Devils, women, and Jews
Subtitle: reflections of the other in medieval sermon stories
By: Joan Young Gregg.
Series: SUNY series in medieval studies
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 275
Subjects: Preaching -- Europe -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500; Demonology -- Europe -- History of doctrines -- Middle Ages, 600-1500; Sermons, Medieval -- History and criticism; Women in Christianity.; Christianity and antisemitism -- History; Exempla in literature; Europe -- Church history -- 600-1500; Europe -- Social life and customs
Description: Contemporary misogyny and antisemitism have their roots in the demonization of women and Jews in medieval Christendom. In church art and mass preaching, the construct of the devil as an outcast from heaven and the source of all evil was linked both to the conception of women as sensual and malicious figures betraying man's soul on its arduous journey to Salvation and to the notion of Jews as treacherous dissidents in the Christian landscape.

These stereotypes, widely disseminated for over three hundred years, persist today. The exemplum, or cautionary story incorporate into preachers' manuals and popular homilies, was an important mode of religious teaching for clerical and lay folk alike. Sermon narratives drawn from Hindu mythology, Arab storytelling, and secular folktales entertained all classes of medieval society while dispensing theological and cultural instruction.

In Devils, Women, and Jews, the vital genre of the medieval sermon story is, for the first time, made accessible to specialists and nonspecialists alike. Rendered in modern English, the tales provide an invaluable primary resource for medievalists, anthropologists, psychologists, folklorists, and students of women's studies and Judaica.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-267) and index.