ASPETTANDO I MESSIA. La letteratura escatologica ebraica nel periodo delle crociate (XI-XIII secolo)

Sebastiano Crestani

doi:10.6093/978-88-6719-369-1

ASPETTANDO I MESSIA. La letteratura escatologica ebraica nel periodo delle crociate (XI-XIII secolo)

Authors

Sebastiano Crestani

University of Turin

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6719-369-1

Keywords:

Messiah, messianism, apocalypticism, eschatology, Crusades, Jerusalem, Hebrew manuscripts

Synopsis

Publisher: UniorPress

Series: Archivio di Studi Ebraici

Pages: 520

Language: Italian

Abstract: This volume analyses Jewish messianic and redemptive expectations during the Crusades (11^th–13^th centuries). This was an era of severe persecutions against Jewish communities – primarily those in Germany – who were subjected to attacks and forced conversions by crusaders marching toward Jerusalem. During this period, a large number of eschatological and apocalyptic texts were copied and reshaped. As this book suggests, their purpose was to instill hope in oppressed Jews and to comfort them in anticipation of the impending liberation from the foreign yoke that the messianic age would bring. The first part of the book presents the historical framework in which these texts circulated, while the second part offers an edition and an Italian translation of the most relevant writings.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Sebastiano Crestani, University of Turin

Sebastiano Crestani is a Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Jewish History. In 2019, he obtained his Master’s degree in Religious Studies (Universities of Padua and Venice) with a dissertation on a medieval Jewish eschatological text. He continued his research on this literary genre between 2019 and 2023 during his doctoral studies at the University of Bologna. Since 2023, he has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Padua, teaching History of Judaism at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In 2024, he joined the University of Turin as a Research Fellow for the project “DiKe – The Digital Kennicott: The transmission of the text of the Hebrew Bible in the Middle Ages.” His research interests include Jewish messianic and eschatological expectations in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, Jewish-Christian relations, and the manuscript transmission of Hebrew texts.