Dolgopolov V. G. “Non ad disputandum, sed ad in fide catholica informandum”. Forms and Purposes of the Anti-Jewish Polemics in the Latin West (XII–XV Centuries) [Digital resource] // Vox medii aevi. 2019. Vol. 1(4). P. 49–85. URL: https://voxmediiaevi.com/2019-1-dolgopolov
DOI: 10.24411/2587-6619-2019-00002
Vasily Dolgopolov
Independent Researcher, graduate of postgraduate program, State Academic University for Humanities (Moscow)
nefsgon@list.ru
“Non ad disputandum, sed ad in fide catholica informandum”. Forms and Purposes of the Anti-Jewish Polemics in the Latin West (XII–XV Centuries)
The article analyses the forms of dialogue adopted in the medieval polemics against the Jews and their development during three centuries. Particular attention is paid to three texts: “Dialogue” by Petrus Alphonsi (as an example of the “philosophical dialogue”), “Dialogue of the Book of life” by Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada (as an example of a sermon, that actively uses dialogical technics) and the Latin protocol of the Tortosa disputation (as the evidence of a real polemics between Christians and the Jews). These texts let us study the development of polemicists’ ideas about the form and purpose of dialogue with the infdels. In the twelfth century the scholars invented new technics of the debate, which were focused on the use of dialectics. The anti-Jewish controversy, despite the reception of many dialectical techniques, used the old patterns of the educational dialogues and the catechisms for the doubting believers. This feature stems from the fact that the character of the dispute with the infdels remained the same: the Jewish interlocutor, as a rule, played second fddle, and the purpose of such a dispute was not an exchange of views in order to show whose faith is true, but the proving of the truthfulness of Christianity. These traits are found both in the literary dialogue and in the real dispute with the Jews.
Keywords: Anti-Jewish Polemics in the Middle Ages; Medieval Dialogues; Petrus Alphonsi; Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada; Scholastic Disputation; the Tortosa Disputation.