Between Cross and Crescent: Jewish Civilization from Mohammed to Spinoza

By: David B. Ruderman, The Great Courses

Narrated by: David B. Ruderman

Experience the evolution of all of Jewish life during the 10 critical centuries from its rabbinic foundations in late antiquity until the dawn of modernity in the 17th century. During this time, Judaism was forever affected by its encounters with the surrounding social, economic, political, and intellectual environments of both medieval Islam and Christendom.

As a result of those encounters, new pathways of philosophical inquiry and religious spirituality would be formed. The Hebrew language would find new ways of artistic expression. And the role of Jews in the life of the surrounding community would be changed forever, sometimes even increased, as was the paradoxical case in Italy, by the very ghettoization meant to keep them isolated.

These 24 insightful lectures give you a unique perspective from which to examine the three major Western religions as they interact over time, and noting especially their ability or inability to tolerate and even appreciate the "other", as viewed from the vantage point of the Jewish minority. They also feature the emergence of two distinct intellectual threads: the rise of medieval Jewish philosophy and the appearance of Jewish mysticism and piety as the faith's primary expressions of religiosity.

These lectures span an enormous disciplinary range, moving back and forth among history, philosophy, religion, and art. No previous familiarity with Jewish, Islamic, or Christian history is necessary to enjoy this broad and detailed examination of the leading Jewish communities of the period, their political and economic structures, the social relations between Jews and non-Jews, and Jewish cultural and intellectual achievements in a premodern world dominated by two other faiths.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2005 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2005 The Great Courses

A good introduction on Jewish relations

This book helps clarify how Jews fit (or didn't fit) into Muslim and Christian societies. Some ideas come across as a little surprising, such as how Muslims actually treated them better than European Christians.

Excellent and Interesting

I know a good deal about world history, but I hadn't known as much about medieval Jewish history as I would have liked and this course was an excellent way to fill in some of that gap.

I felt that Professor Ruderman tried very hard to be balanced towards the Jews, Christians, and Muslims throughout the course but I believe he made a misinterpretation of the Gospel of John. He claimed that John's Gospel was different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke in that it was openly hostile to the Jewish people. He claims that when Jesus spoke against people he disagreed with in the Gospel of John that Jesus was speaking against all Jews. I do not agree with his interpretation.

Firstly, Jesus was Jewish along with all of his disciples, all of the first Christians, and almost all of the authors of what the Christians call the New Testament. Thus, Jesus could not be speaking against all Jews because he would be speaking against himself, his disciples, all the early Christians, etc. When Jesus spoke against the crowds and religious leaders who did not believe him he was speaking against those people, not all Jews. Also, Jesus was speaking in the tradition of the Jewish prophets in the Tanakh who often spoke out against the Jewish leaders and people for disobeying G-d. Now, I am not saying whether Jesus was right or wrong in how he spoke out against others, but I do not believe that one can reasonably claim that he was speaking against all Jewish people for the previously stated reasons such as the fact that Jesus, his mother Mary, all his disciples, and the other first Christians were all Jewish.

Now, perhaps what Professor Ruderman meant is that Jesus and his disciples were not really religiously Jewish because of what they believed about Jesus. Jesus and his disciples saw themselves as both ethnically and religiously Jewish. They believed that Jesus was the Jewish Moshiach. It is not unreasonable to disagree with what they believed, but I believe it is unreasonable to say that they felt that they were no longer Jews because of what they believed about Jesus.

That is my interpretation and while I disagree with Professor Ruderman in this one specific area, I greatly appreciate his work and I am looking forward to listening to more of his courses that are offered through Audible.

Thoughtful review of medieval Jewish history

Prof. Ruderman has good delivery and knowledge. He is quite balanced. No perceptible agenda. Only negative: occasionally fell into "big words" mode, with some malapropisms.

Enjoyed the lectures

Any additional comments?

I've enjoyed both of Prof. Ruderman's courses available on Audible. It would be very helpful if the course outlines were made available for downloading.

Very knowledgeable

Very informative lecture. Jewish history is rather depressing, but you get a strong sense of how resilient Jews are.

Fascinating introduction

David Ruderman is a fascinating lecturer: knowledgeable and easy to listen to. While he is clearly an expert in his subject area, and almost anyone can learn something from this lecture, this is a broad introduction to its subject matter, and oriented toward the novice. Each lecture is 30 minutes, so topics are merely touched. But it’s greatest strength may be that it may inspire listeners to explore elsewhere in greater depth one or more of the topics mentioned. One further point: While Professor Ruderman clearly is coming from a very liberal perspective, he tries hard to be objective in his lectures, and generally succeeds.

Very Good Course, worth the listen.

I wouldn't put this as one of my first listens. I think getting a broader view of history, which The Great Courses has many good options (Foundations of Western Civilization I), is a prerequisite. Also, if your looking for a course that will take a look at history "from the other side" I also recommend listening to "Turning Points in Middle Eastern History" this looks at Islamic history. Jews dance between these two worlds, so, those 2 courses make good prerequisites.
Part of the challenge of this particular subject matter is that there are just so few historical documents to pull from.
I really appreciate how the presenter attempts to show the continuities, and discontinuities for Jews through this period. However, I feel that the question of "How did Jews impact the course of history?" or "Why was this important?" or "How does this change my view of history?'" or "How does this help me to understand the world we live in today?" or arguably the most important question for history "How does this help me predict the future or help me make decisions going forward?" (Which he does touch on) ... I feel the "SO WHAT?" was a little lacking.
Further, I embarked on the this intellectual voyage because I wanted to know more about one specific author, MOSES MIMONITIES. For my liking there wasn't nearly enough on this thinker, and very likely more time on this author may have ameliorated my above criticisms.
Although, I am being critical I still put this course solidly in the camp of a "WORTH LISTENING TO" course. There is new material here, and (Large C) Christianity’s relationship to its smaller and older brother demonstrate periods of toleration and periods when minorities could have been treated better, and just as importantly the why and how of that.

Fascinating and Comprehensible

This is an area of history which I personally knew little about and had a hard time finding ways to learn about it.

The audiobook is a gold mine in this sense. The professor is eloquent, knowledgeable, and organizes the information in a way which it makes it all easy to understand and digest.

The style-- being a lecture-- is conversational, so I found much easier to listen to than a nonfiction book.

Excellent history.

A comprehensive overview of the history of the Jews and how the Diaspora developed. When anti-Semitism began.
Very enlightening.

I learned a lot

About a period I thought I knew about. Professor Ruderman is almost, not deep enough for me.