Al-Yahūdiyya
The Emergence of a Comparative Framework in Medieval Jewish Thought
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5041797 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jonathan Decter (Brandeis University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 101 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 299-325 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4189 • E-ISSN: 1549-6538 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/714259 |
| OpenAlex | W3177337433 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
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 species “Judaism” and its genus “Religion,” the Jewish adoption of an entity that enfolds many of the elements scholars identify with the category Religion marks a milestone in Jewish thought. In the context of Islamic and Christian writing in Arabic, this article focuses on Judeo-Arabic sources composed between the tenth and twelfth centuries that present al-yahūdiyya as an emic term and then turns to Hebrew sources through the fifteenth century that also reflect a comparative framework
Jewish thought · Judaism · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Islamic Studies and History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |