Jewish Allegory in Eighteenth-Century Christian Imagination

Download or read book Jewish Allegory in Eighteenth-Century Christian Imagination written by Rebecca K. Esterson and published by SBL Press. This book was released on 2023-10-08 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rebecca K. Esterson explores how Christian methods of biblical interpretation shifted during the eighteenth century, producing a rhetorical rejection of allegory while embracing literalism. Under the influence of Enlightenment concepts of human reason and advances in the experimental sciences, Christian interpreters began casting Jewish biblical interpretation as allegorical, while presenting Christian interpretation as literal. This shift in self-understanding allowed Christians to portray their own interpretations as scientifically, philosophically, and historically superior, resulting in a new way of othering the Jewish people. This study of biblical exegesis, theology, philosophy, and the arts in English, Swedish, and German contexts is an essential resource for scholars interested in biblical reception history and the history of Jewish-Christian relations.