The problem of exile in Medieval Jewish-Christian polemic

Abstract

The Jewish condition often encapsulated in the term exile played a major and to some degree exceptional role in exchanges between Jews and Christians in medieval and early modern times. A recurring observation in scholarly studies of the Jewish–Christian debate is that the issues in question would have concerned Christians even in the absence of a Jewish challenge. What is the evidence that the Messiah will die to atone for our sins? That God is triune? That He took on flesh in a human being? That He will be born of a virgin? In any serious internal Christian discourse, these and many similar questions would have demanded attention. The basis for these doctrines would have been sought and identified in pre-Christian Scriptural passages and their philosophical challenges addressed and resolved. On the other hand, setting aside a handful of particularly difficult Biblical passages, the sorts of challenges presented to Jews by their Christian interlocutors would not have troubled them or even occupied their attention as they pondered their own texts and beliefs in an environment that was not suffused by Christian theology and its advocates. ¶ Jewish suffering in a seemingly interminable exile was very different. It pervaded the daily consciousness of medieval Jews and would have required explanation for psychological as well as intellectual reasons even if no Christians had ever raised the question. But raise it they did – repeatedly, insistently, triumphantly, even mockingly. Few issues in medieval religious polemic penetrated the Jewish psyche as deeply and distressingly as this one. (from Introduction)