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- Isaac On Jewish and Christian Altars
Devorah Schoenfeld’s new work offers an in-depth examination of two of the most influential Christian and Jewish Bible commentaries of the High Middle Ages. The Glossa Ordinaria and Rashi’s commentary were standard texts for Bible study in the High Middle Ages, and Rashi's influence continues to the present day. Although Rashi’s commentary and the Glossa developed at the same time with no known contact between them, they shared a way of reading text that shaped their interpretations of the central religious narrative of the Binding of Isaac. Schoenfeld’s text examines each commentary unto itself and offers a detailed comparison, one that illustrates the similarities between Rashi and the Gloss that derive not merely from their shared late antique heritage but also from their common twelfth-century context, and the Jewish-Christian polemic in which they both, implicitly or explicitly, take part.
"Devorah Schoenfeld carefully places this exegetical double movement in its historical context and provides a valuable edition of Rashi and the Glossa Ordinari on Genesis 22. She utilizes twelfth-century biblical exegesis of the binding of Isaac to illuminate the paradox of Jewish-Christian relations. Sharing texts and methods of interpreting the Scriptures, medieval Jews and Christians established boundaries marking their mutual differences at the very moment when their modes of studying manifested their deep connections."
—Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Church Divinity School of the Pacific / Graduate Theological Union
“Schoenfeld’s book is at the forefront of new thinking about peshat/literal sense in both Jewish and Christian contexts, and she opens up new territory for exploration and comparison.”—Deeana Klepper, Boston University
