Date of Award
Fall 1995
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
First Advisor
Zemler-Cizewski, Wanda
Second Advisor
Jeansonne, Sharon, P.
Third Advisor
Misner, Paul
Abstract
I have always been baffled by the number of atrocities carried out against the Jews in the name of the Prince of Peace, himself a Jew. My hope is, and remains, that Christianity is not predicated upon the denial or the demise of another faith. I continue to hope that the anti-Jewish rhetoric which runs from the Gospels, through the early Church, and up to Christian theology today is neither a necessary nor a constitutive part of Christian faith. With this in mind, it should be obvious why I would want to look at Christians throughout history who seem to have a more inclusive view of the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. The Middle Ages were a good place to start, since that was a moment in the history of Jewish and Christian relations which, in the words of Dickens, were the best of times and the worst of times. The legacy which remains today is that of the worst rather than the best. But that just makes it doubly important to recover what was good. And what was constructive was the intellectual, cultural, and religious interchange occurring between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Hugh of st. Victor was one bit player in the greater drama unfolding in the twelfth century, a century which began with the massacre of Jews in the Rhineland during the First crusade in 1096. In the midst of this drama, Hugh engaged in dialogue with the Jews of Paris and northern France. This conversation clearly affected his biblical interpretation and, I have claimed in this study, his theology...