Jonathan Decter
Biographic Data
| ID | 3597309 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jonathan Decter |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jonathan |
| FAMILY NAME | Decter |
| SIGNATURE | DECTER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Brandeis University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Maqāma Genre and the History of an Islamicate Literary Form
Medieval Empires and the Culture of Competition: Literary Duels at Islamic and Christian Courts, written by Samuel England
Al-Yahūdiyya: The Emergence of a Comparative Framework in Medieval Jewish Thought
This article argues that medieval Arabic-speaking Jews, unlike the rabbis of Late Antiquity, adopted a comparative framework for analyzing their beliefs, practices, laws, exegetical methods, and so on as analogous to those possessed by other groups. The paradigm shift is reflected in Judeo-Arabic writings that adopt al-yahūdiyya as the name of an independent entity that is a species of a broader genus. While it might be anachronistic to call this…
Survivals, Debris, and Relics: E. B. Tylor, the Orientalist Inheritance, and Medieval Polemic
Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) is widely recognized as the first scholar to formulate an anthropological theory of religion. At the center of his theory was the concept of “survivals,” earlier forms of religiosity (or cultural practice) that persist within later epochs after they have lost their original function. This article argues that Tylor’s idea of “survivals” was more of a secularized reworking of an interreligious barb than a wholly nov…
"A Remote Right to Entry": Defining Boundaries in the Early Years of the Jewish Quarterly Review
"A Remote Right to Entry":Defining Boundaries in the Early Years of the Jewish Quarterly Review Jonathan Decter (bio) In the last of numerous necrologies Adolf Neubauer wrote for JQR in its early years, he recounted the contributions of Joseph Derenbourg (1811–95), an Orientalist who published in the areas of rabbinics, medieval Jewish literature, and Arabic and Islamic studies, and who was a student of the renowned Orientalist Georg Freytag (ano…
A Remote Right to Entry”: Defining Boundaries in the Early Years of the Jewish Quarterly Review
The Jewish Quarterly Review (Fall 2020) Copyright © 2020 Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. All rights reserved. T H E J E W I S H Q U A R T E R LY R E V I E W, Vol. 110, No. 4 (Fall 2020) 599–602 “A Remote Right to Entry”: Defining Bound aries in the Early Years of the Jewish Quarterly Review JONATHAN DECTER IN THE LAST OF numerous necrologies Adolf Neubauer wrote for JQR in its early years, he recounted the contributions of Jo…
The (Inter-religious?) Rededication of an Arabic Panegyric by Judah al-Ḥarīzī
This article studies two versions of an Arabic panegyric by the Jewish poet Judah al-Ḥarīzī, one preserved in Hebrew (Judeo-Arabic) script and the other in Arabic script in a biographical dictionary by al-Mubārak ibn Aḥmad al-Mawṣilī (1197-1256). The Judeo-Arabic version was dedicated to a Jewish physician. While the version transmitted by al-Mawṣilī does not have a named addressee, it was likely dedicated to a Muslim. By reading the two versions…
The Jewish Ahl al-Adab of al-Andalus
This article studies the use of adab and related terminology among medieval Jewish authors with particular attention to shifts in cultural and religious sensibilities, matters of group cohesion and self-definition, and the contours of adab discourse across religious boundaries. The article demonstrates that, although Jews in the Islamic East in the tenth century internalized adab as a cultural concept, it was in al-Andalus that Jews first self-co…
Patronage, Production, and Transmission of Texts in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish Cultures
The Hebrew Bible in Fifteenth-Century Spain: Exegesis, Literature, Philosophy, and the Arts
The Hebrew Bible in Fifteenth-Century Spain: Exegesis, Literature, Philosophy, and the Arts investigates the relationship between the Bible and the cultural production of Iberian societies between the anti-Jewish riots of 1391 and the Expulsion of 1492. During this turbulent and transformative period, the Bible intersected with virtually all aspects of late medieval Iberian culture: its languages of expression, its material and artistic productio…
A Hebrew “sodomite” tale from thirteenth-century Toledo: Jacob Ben El‘azar's story of Sapir, Shapir, and Birsha
The purpose of this article is to provide a close reading of a thirteenth-century Hebrew narrative by Jacob Ben El‘azar of Toledo that recounts the tale of a “sodomite” who meets a violent end. The story focuses on the amorous affair of Sapir, an adult male, his beloved Shapir, a male youth around the age of puberty, and Birsha, a nefarious old man who lures Shapir away from Sapir, though Sapir ultimately seeks out Shapir and is reunited with him…
Landscape and Culture in the Medieval Hebrew Rhymed Prose Narrative
»Vielmehr bietet [der Kommentar] auf höchstem Niveau eine substantielle Auseinandersetzung mit den Hintergründen, den Zusammenhängen, der Theorie und der Praxis des Grundgesetzes. Besseres lässt sich von einem Verfassungskommentar nicht sagen.“ Herbert Günther Staaatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen 2018 (50), 1494–1495
Iberian Jewish Literature: Between al-Andalus and Christian Europe
This book explores Iberian Jewish attitudes toward cultural transition during the 12th and 13th centuries, when growing intolerance toward Jews in Islamic al-Andalus and the southward expansion of the Christian Reconquista led to the relocation of Jews from Islamic to Christian domains. By engaging literary topics such as imagery, structure, voice, landscape, and geography, Jonathan P. Decter traces attitudes toward transition that range from ten…
Iberian Jewish Literature: Between al-Andalus and Christian Europe
Poetry 1. Space: Landscape and Transition 2. Form: Varieties of Lamentation and Estrangement 3. Imagery: The Protean Garden Part 2. Narrative 4. Context: Imagining Hebrew Fiction between Arabic and European Sources 5. Structure: Literature in Transition 6. Voice: Maqama and Morality 7. Space: Landscape, Geography, and Transition Conclusion: Out of the Garden Notes Bibliography Index
The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought (review)
AARON W. HUGHES. The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought. Bloommgton: Indiana University Press, 2004. Pp. x + 273.Over the past decade, a number of scholars have come to question the existence of a clear dichotomy between philosophy and mysticism in late antique and medieval thought. Scholars for generations have argued the allegiances of such enigmatic figures as Avicenna and Ibn Tufayl for the philosophical…
Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain (review)
Reviewed by: Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain Jonathan P. Decter Ross Brann . Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002. Pp. x + 194. Textual representation is a central subject of inquiry for literary theorists and cultural historians alike. At the most basic…
The Rendering of Qur'anic Quotations in Hebrew Translations of Islamic Texts
Beginning in thelate twelfth century, a Jewish intellectual revolution took place in Christian Iberia and in Provence that centered on the translation of Arabic and Judeo-Arabic texts into Hebrew. In the Arabic-speaking world, Jews had been avid readers of Arabic literature and Islamic disciplines and composed works on philosophy, science, grammar, and biblical exegesis in Arabic, usually in Hebrew characters. Outside of the Arabic-speaking envir…
The Rendering of Qur'anic Quotations in Hebrew Translations of Islamic Texts
Beginning in thelate twelfth century, a Jewish intellectual revolution took place in Christian Iberia and in Provence that centered on the translation of Arabic and Judeo-Arabic texts into Hebrew. In the Arabic-speaking world, Jews had been avid readers of Arabic literature and Islamic disciplines and composed works on philosophy, science, grammar, and biblical exegesis in Arabic, usually in Hebrew characters. Outside of the Arabic-speaking envir…
The Rendering of Qur'anic Quotations in Hebrew Translations of Islamic Texts
Beginning in thelate twelfth century, a Jewish intellectual revolution took place in Christian Iberia and in Provence that centered on the translation of Arabic and Judeo-Arabic texts into Hebrew. In the Arabic-speaking world, Jews had been avid readers of Arabic literature and Islamic disciplines and composed works on philosophy, science, grammar, and biblical exegesis in Arabic, usually in Hebrew characters. Outside of the Arabic-speaking envir…
Landscape and Culture in the Medieval Hebrew Rhymed Prose Narrative
»Vielmehr bietet [der Kommentar] auf höchstem Niveau eine substantielle Auseinandersetzung mit den Hintergründen, den Zusammenhängen, der Theorie und der Praxis des Grundgesetzes. Besseres lässt sich von einem Verfassungskommentar nicht sagen.“ Herbert Günther Staaatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen 2018 (50), 1494–1495
Iberian Jewish Literature: Between al-Andalus and Christian Europe
This book explores Iberian Jewish attitudes toward cultural transition during the 12th and 13th centuries, when growing intolerance toward Jews in Islamic al-Andalus and the southward expansion of the Christian Reconquista led to the relocation of Jews from Islamic to Christian domains. By engaging literary topics such as imagery, structure, voice, landscape, and geography, Jonathan P. Decter traces attitudes toward transition that range from ten…
Iberian Jewish Literature: Between al-Andalus and Christian Europe
Poetry 1. Space: Landscape and Transition 2. Form: Varieties of Lamentation and Estrangement 3. Imagery: The Protean Garden Part 2. Narrative 4. Context: Imagining Hebrew Fiction between Arabic and European Sources 5. Structure: Literature in Transition 6. Voice: Maqama and Morality 7. Space: Landscape, Geography, and Transition Conclusion: Out of the Garden Notes Bibliography Index
The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought (review)
AARON W. HUGHES. The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought. Bloommgton: Indiana University Press, 2004. Pp. x + 273.Over the past decade, a number of scholars have come to question the existence of a clear dichotomy between philosophy and mysticism in late antique and medieval thought. Scholars for generations have argued the allegiances of such enigmatic figures as Avicenna and Ibn Tufayl for the philosophical…
Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain (review)
Reviewed by: Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain Jonathan P. Decter Ross Brann . Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002. Pp. x + 194. Textual representation is a central subject of inquiry for literary theorists and cultural historians alike. At the most basic…
A Hebrew “sodomite” tale from thirteenth-century Toledo: Jacob Ben El‘azar's story of Sapir, Shapir, and Birsha
The purpose of this article is to provide a close reading of a thirteenth-century Hebrew narrative by Jacob Ben El‘azar of Toledo that recounts the tale of a “sodomite” who meets a violent end. The story focuses on the amorous affair of Sapir, an adult male, his beloved Shapir, a male youth around the age of puberty, and Birsha, a nefarious old man who lures Shapir away from Sapir, though Sapir ultimately seeks out Shapir and is reunited with him…
The Hebrew Bible in Fifteenth-Century Spain: Exegesis, Literature, Philosophy, and the Arts
The Hebrew Bible in Fifteenth-Century Spain: Exegesis, Literature, Philosophy, and the Arts investigates the relationship between the Bible and the cultural production of Iberian societies between the anti-Jewish riots of 1391 and the Expulsion of 1492. During this turbulent and transformative period, the Bible intersected with virtually all aspects of late medieval Iberian culture: its languages of expression, its material and artistic productio…
Patronage, Production, and Transmission of Texts in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish Cultures
The Jewish Ahl al-Adab of al-Andalus
This article studies the use of adab and related terminology among medieval Jewish authors with particular attention to shifts in cultural and religious sensibilities, matters of group cohesion and self-definition, and the contours of adab discourse across religious boundaries. The article demonstrates that, although Jews in the Islamic East in the tenth century internalized adab as a cultural concept, it was in al-Andalus that Jews first self-co…
Survivals, Debris, and Relics: E. B. Tylor, the Orientalist Inheritance, and Medieval Polemic
Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) is widely recognized as the first scholar to formulate an anthropological theory of religion. At the center of his theory was the concept of “survivals,” earlier forms of religiosity (or cultural practice) that persist within later epochs after they have lost their original function. This article argues that Tylor’s idea of “survivals” was more of a secularized reworking of an interreligious barb than a wholly nov…
"A Remote Right to Entry": Defining Boundaries in the Early Years of the Jewish Quarterly Review
"A Remote Right to Entry":Defining Boundaries in the Early Years of the Jewish Quarterly Review Jonathan Decter (bio) In the last of numerous necrologies Adolf Neubauer wrote for JQR in its early years, he recounted the contributions of Joseph Derenbourg (1811–95), an Orientalist who published in the areas of rabbinics, medieval Jewish literature, and Arabic and Islamic studies, and who was a student of the renowned Orientalist Georg Freytag (ano…
A Remote Right to Entry”: Defining Boundaries in the Early Years of the Jewish Quarterly Review
The Jewish Quarterly Review (Fall 2020) Copyright © 2020 Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. All rights reserved. T H E J E W I S H Q U A R T E R LY R E V I E W, Vol. 110, No. 4 (Fall 2020) 599–602 “A Remote Right to Entry”: Defining Bound aries in the Early Years of the Jewish Quarterly Review JONATHAN DECTER IN THE LAST OF numerous necrologies Adolf Neubauer wrote for JQR in its early years, he recounted the contributions of Jo…
The (Inter-religious?) Rededication of an Arabic Panegyric by Judah al-Ḥarīzī
This article studies two versions of an Arabic panegyric by the Jewish poet Judah al-Ḥarīzī, one preserved in Hebrew (Judeo-Arabic) script and the other in Arabic script in a biographical dictionary by al-Mubārak ibn Aḥmad al-Mawṣilī (1197-1256). The Judeo-Arabic version was dedicated to a Jewish physician. While the version transmitted by al-Mawṣilī does not have a named addressee, it was likely dedicated to a Muslim. By reading the two versions…
Medieval Empires and the Culture of Competition: Literary Duels at Islamic and Christian Courts, written by Samuel England
Al-Yahūdiyya: The Emergence of a Comparative Framework in Medieval Jewish Thought
This article argues that medieval Arabic-speaking Jews, unlike the rabbis of Late Antiquity, adopted a comparative framework for analyzing their beliefs, practices, laws, exegetical methods, and so on as analogous to those possessed by other groups. The paradigm shift is reflected in Judeo-Arabic writings that adopt al-yahūdiyya as the name of an independent entity that is a species of a broader genus. While it might be anachronistic to call this…
The Maqāma Genre and the History of an Islamicate Literary Form
History (15 works) · Art (14 works) · Literature (14 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Judaism (12 works) · Hebrew (8 works) · Historical and Linguistic Studies (8 works) · Islam (8 works) · Linguistics (8 works) · Archaeology (7 works)