Jews And The Renaissance Of Synagogue Architecture 1450 1730

Before the mid-fifteenth century, the Christian and Islamic governments of Europe had restricted the architecture and design of synagogues and often prevented Jews from becoming architects. Stiefel presents a study of the material culture and religious architecture that this era produced.

Superbly illustrated views from antiquity to modern times accompany concise profiles of synagogues across the continent, including Cracow's Old Synagogue, the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, and Vienna's Tempelgasse. 253 illustrations.

The first comprehensive account of Protestant and Catholic attitudes toward Jews and Judaism in the European Reformation ​In this rich, wide-ranging, and meticulously researched account, Kenneth Austin examines the attitudes of various Christian groups in the Protestant and Catholic Reformations towards Jews, the Hebrew language, and Jewish learning. Martin Luther’s writings are notorious, but Reformation attitudes were much more varied and nuanced than these might lead us to believe. This book has much to tell us about the Reformation and its priorities—and has important implications for how we think about religious pluralism more broadly.

Caribbean Jewish Crossings is the first essay collection to consider the Caribbean's relationship to Jewishness through a literary lens. Although Caribbean novelists and poets regularly incorporate Jewish motifs in their work, scholars have neglected this strain in studies of Caribbean literature. The book takes a pan-Caribbean approach, with chapters addressing the Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanophone, and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. Part 1 traces the emergence of a Caribbean-Jewish literary culture in Suriname, St. Thomas, Jamaica, and Cuba from the late eighteenth century through the early twentieth century. Part 2 brings into focus Sephardic and crypto-Jewish motifs in contemporary Caribbean literature, while Part 3 turns to the question of colonialism and its relationship to Holocaust memory. The volume concludes with the compelling voices of contemporary Caribbean creative writers.

Through the use of images, diagrams, and detailed descriptions, this book enables readers to appreciate how the construction, design, and function of famous structures inform our understanding of societies of the past. Buildings and Landmarks of Medieval Europe: The Middle Ages Revealed makes use of significant buildings as "representative structures" to provide insight into specific cultures, historical periods, or topics of the Middle Ages. The explanations of these buildings' construction, original intended use and change over time, and design elements allow readers to better comprehend what life in European societies of the past was like, covering social, political, economic, and intellectual perspectives. Readers will be able to apply what they learn from the discussions of the structures to improve their understanding of the historical period as well as their skills of observation and assessment needed to analyze these landmark structures and draw meaningful conclusions about their context and significance. The book's supporting features—a chronology, biographical appendix, glossary, and subject index—help researchers in successfully completing their papers or projects.

This book explores how the Jewish ghetto engaged the sensory imagination of Venice in complex and contradictory ways to shape urban space and reshape Christian-Jewish relations.

This full colour publication explores the rich and diverse response to the quest to sustain the Hebrew heritage that has resulted in prominent designs.

A survey of Jewish women’s history from biblical times to the twenty-first century.