The Feast of Saint Abraham: Medieval Millenarians and the Jews (The Middle Ages Series) [Hardcover]

Robert E. Lerner (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Middle Ages Series | Publication Date: September 25, 2000

Robert E. Lerner uncovers a strain of medieval millennial thought that conceived of a peaceful place for Jews at the end of time. Its proponents maintained that "the candelabra of the Church would return to the Synagogue" and that the millennial Church would celebrate the feasts of "Saint Abraham" and "Saint David." Rejecting the common assumption that all millenarians were of necessity anti-Jewish, Lerner reveals a Christian prophetic tradition that foresaw a world in which Jews and Gentiles would come together to mutual benefit.

As imagined by the twelfth century Calabrian Abbot Joachim of Fiore, God's plan, entailed a march of progress from Abraham until the wondrous transformation of human life upon the defeat of Antichrist. While the march of progress transpired on earth, a spiritual movement impelled God's chosen ones to heaven in phases, on a stairway to paradise. The divine plan had first entrusted the Jews with adherence to the letter of the Old Testament; then it had entrusted the Gentiles with the more spiritual New Testament. At the culmination of history, God would endow both Jews and Gentiles with a full understanding of both testaments. The word of God would return to the people from whence it came, and the Jews would be converted peacefully instead of damned.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Robert Lerner takes us through some little-known byways of millennial thought in the high and late Middle Ages to explore an 'unprecedented theme' introduced by Joachim of Fiore. . . . A remarkable, valuable, and timely book. By painstakingly excavating this unnoticed line of millennial thought in later medieval Christian history, the author has drawn our attention to vital issues and raised important questions."—Speculum

"Like all his writing, Robert E. Lerner's The Feast of Saint Abraham is characterized by originality, profound scholarship (especially with regard to new manuscript sources), and by clarity and felicity of style. . . . A fine book."—Bernard McGinn, University of Chicago

About the Author

Robert E. Lerner is Professor of History and Peter B. Ritzma Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. He is the author or coauthor of many books, including The Age of Adversity: The Fourteenth Century (1968) and Western Civilizations, 13/e (1998).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (September 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812235673
• ISBN-13: 978-0812235678
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,870,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Exception to Medieval Anti-Judaism, March 18, 2001

By 

"dheadric" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Feast of Saint Abraham: Medieval Millenarians and the Jews (The Middle Ages Series) (Hardcover)

Robert Lerner's new book is a gem of medieval studies scholarship. His elagantly written and laconic prose covers the evolution of Joachism (from Joachim de Fiore, the 12th century Italian millenarian abbot) through several major Christian thinkers. Lerner's ostensible aim here is to illuminate the rare exceptions to medieval Christian anti-Judaism. The Joachites often had startling prophecies concerning the Jews, Lerner tells us, that resulted in oppression for these thinkers. Many were executed and/or imprisoned for years: this was the price of philo-Judaism. Most interesting are his chapters on John of Rupescissa (or John of Roquetaillade) and Peter Olivi, and of course on Joachim himself. This is a must read for anybody interested in a more nuanced understanding of Christian conceptions of Jews in the middle ages.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Path Not Taken, February 18, 2002

By 

Katarzyna Wróblewska (Wroc³aw, Poland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Feast of Saint Abraham: Medieval Millenarians and the Jews (The Middle Ages Series) (Hardcover)

Lerner's book is a presentation of a part of medieval millennial tradition - the lineage which originates from the powerful personage of Joachim of Fiore. Within this tradition the author traces views on the eschatological role of the Jewry in the future millennial era.
The framework of the whole book is to demonstrate that in the high Middle Ages existed a way of thinking being an alternative to so-called common Christian anti-Judaism. This "path not taken" would be a strain of thought opposed to the one which finally prevailed - the "culture of persecution" having led humanity to the nightmare of the Holocaust. To great disappointment of the present writer, the thesis so strongly emphasised at the very beginning of the book reappears only in the conclusion. The whole book focuses on nothing but the presentation of the historical evidence. Although it is admittedly very vivid and well-ordered evidence, the theme of the aforementioned "culture of persecution" is so weighty that it should be, in my view, considered more thoroughly. Perhaps it is a task for a reader to undertake...
What seems here noteworthy is that the author dealing with Joachite tradition as opposed to the "culture of persecution" does not mention the attempts made by several thinkers (esp. K. Löwith, H. de Lubac) to associate Joachim and his heirs with the totalitarian movements of the twentieth century. Funnily enough, the author does not even refer to the widespread assumption that the very millenarianism itself is inevitably connected with totalitarianism.
To sum up, the book gathers the evidence in favour of the view that not all medieval thinkers thought of the Jews in terms of Christ-killers or obdurate unbelievers. Lerner presents several figures who contradict one of the common prejudices about the Middle Ages: the view that anti-Judaism in the later Middle Ages was so overwhelming that no-one could resist it. The author shows that there were also thinkers - it must be admitted with sorrow that they were predominantly non-orthodox - who accepted the positive eschatological role of the Jewry in the future millennium.