Boundaries of Interpretation: From Augustine to Nicholas of Lyra or from the Hermeneutical Jew to a Hermeneutical Hebrew
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphil.2025.sp.iss.08Keywords:
Theologia, Jews, Hermeneutics, Augustine, Nicholas of Lyra, PlatoAbstract
As individuals need to define the unknown in order to tame it, by accepting or rejecting it, when it came to “the unknown neighbour”[1], from the late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Church Fathers and theologians tried hard to build up an image of the Jew, from the perspective of what Christians considered to be their ongoing rejection of Christ. This paper follows the boundaries between knowledge and ignorance in the approach to the Jewish topic by two important figures of Christianity: Augustine and Nicholas of Lyra. Both their perspectives will be analysed according to the manner they influenced ethical and political decision-making processes, considering the fate of the Jews during the Middle Ages.
[1] The topic relates to the title of Wolfram Drews’ book, The Unknown Neighbour. The Jew in the Thought of Isidore of Seville, Brill, Febr 2006.
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