Under Crescent and Cross
By Mark R. Cohen
Reviewed by Kevin Mitchell, Biola University, La Mirada, CA
In his book Under Crescent and Cross The Jews in the Middle Ages Mark R. Cohen compares the life of Jews under Christian and Islamic rule during the Middle Ages. Over the past few decades this debate has intensified with the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Muslims have looked at their history with Jews, and argue that before the Jewish state relations between them were far less hostile then today. On the flip side Christians have long been blamed for horrific treatment of Jewish people. Mark Cohen states that his desire is to look at the facts of the past, and make an informed unbiased decision of how Jewish life was under these two religions, and to see were these feelings stemmed from.
Looking at the founding of both religions one can find the beginnings of relations between Christianity and Judaism, and Islam and Judaism. Cohen states that Christianity grew out of Judaism, and that early Christian leaders saw Christianity as the fulfillment of Jewish scripture. This put it at direct odds with Judaism. Christians had to prove that their interpretation of Old Testament Scripture was superior, and pointed to Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. Coupled with early Jewish attacks and persecution of Christians it is clear were early hostility towards Jews arose in Christians.
Islam did not need to worry about being true to Judaism, while still needing to be superior. They simply stated that they were the true Monotheistic religion, and that both Judaism and Christianity had twisted the truth. In a sense they had nothing to prove to either religion. A Muslim could argue that difference or conflict between scriptures or beliefs with Jews was because their religion and scripture was pure and unadulterated.
Both Islamic and Christian states that ruled over Jews passed laws that dealt with directly with them. Although, as Cohen states, these laws did not always correspond to individual action they are still important to look at. During the early phases of Christian Europe laws towards Jews were very lenient. Even papal edicts stated that Jews should not be harmed. This stemmed from the theologian Augustine of Hippo, who said God had kept the Jews to serve as a witness. These laws stemmed from the Law Code of Theodosius. This Law Code established a precedence of tolerating Jews, while still keeping certain restrictions on them. As the middle ages wore on laws became more and more restrictive on Jews. Soon Jews were forced into serfdom, and made the property of the King. Kings justified this by saying it was for their protection. Jewish serfdom eventually lead to Jewish exclusion from Society, and Jews became outcasts and hated aliens.
Islamic law while still humiliating and belittling was not as harsh as Christian laws. Under the Pact of Umar Jews were protected, but still made to know their lowly place in society. The protection of Jews in Islam had a price. An annually paid tax that Islamic States gathered from all non-Muslim inhabitants to ensure their safety. Cohen notes that this was less an anti-Semitic law, and more a law to remind the conquered who the victors were. Jews also had to were clothing that would make them easy to identify, and were legally not allowed to build or repair synagogues. While it is clear that Jews under Islam were treated as less then equal, it seems clear their treatment was far better then that under Christianity.
The Economic treatment of Jews under these two religions also differed greatly. To Christian merchants, an occupation held by Jews early in the middle ages, was an evil occupation. This belief arose from Platonic thought and the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. In many ways this was yet another strike against Jews in the mind of Christians. Jews never had much freedom in occupations, and when mercantilism became accepted in the west Jews were promptly ousted. After their ousting Jews turned to Money lending which once again simply led to Christian hatred. Under Islam Jews had a lot more freedom economically thanks in part to their view on merchants. In Islam merchants are highly respected. Jews did not need to worry about restrictions on many jobs, or be ousted out of professions they had long practiced. Jewish prospects economically in Islamic states were for better then that in Christian.
Jews had no place in Christian hierarchy by the late middle Ages. They were completely excluded by most societies, and sometimes even ousted out of nations like England. Their place in Islam, while low, was still in the social hierarchy creating a stability that Jews in Christian states could only dream of. With their annual payment they new that they were safe, and did not need to worry much about attacks or mobs. Jews could would even life alongside Muslims and Christians, without the hatred or enmity that would arise in Christian states.
Mark Cohen makes a fair attempt at looking at both religions objectively. While I agree with much he has said, I can still see some biases in his ultimate conclusions. He states in his introduction that there were Christian states that treated Jews very well that he chooses not to look at. He also states that occasionally Muslim regimes persecuted Jews, yet once again he chooses not to look at these. With all this in mind it is important to be careful when reading this book. However, he is correct in his assessment that it was often far better for a Jew to life under Muslim rule then Christian rule, and his book does a very good job at making this argument.
Under Crescent and Cross
By Mark R. Cohen
Reviewed by Amanda Prechel, Biola University, La Mirada, CA; Email: amanda.m.prechel@biola.edu
Under Crescent and Cross by Mark R. Cohen, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, seeks to explain to the reader the differences between Jewish-Islamic (Jews under the crescent) and Jewish-Christian (Jews under the cross) relations during the Middle Ages. In order to accomplish this, he compares the lives of Jews in medieval times under the rule of each of these religions. An analysis of the history of the relations between Jews and these two subsequent religions throughout the book attempts to shed light on the following two questions:
Why were Islamic-Jewish relations during the classical centuries less tense, less marked by intolerance and violence, than Christian-Jewish relations during the early and High Middle Ages? And what factors account for the constraints on persecution and intolerance of Jews in the Islamic world?[1]
In the first chapter, Cohen begins by setting the stage for answering these two above questions by introducing the ideas of "the myth of an interfaith utopia" as well as the countermyth, "the neo-lachrymose conception of Jewish-Arab history."[2] The former is a notion of a peaceful utopian existence of Jews living in lands governed by Islam, which came to an end only when the Zionist movement began among the Jews. The latter, then refers to "claim[s] by some Jewish thinkers" that Muslims were highly persecutory of the Jews who lived among them during the Middle Ages.[3] A proponent of the countermyth would argue that though Muslims may not have persecuted the Jews as harshly as the European Christians, Anti-Semitism was still present in the relationship between the two.
Something interesting about the situation of the Jewish people throughout the history written about in this book is that they are always considered a problem, wherever they are and whatever the dominant religion might be. With Christians, there is a "Jewish problem," and with Muslims there is a "Jewish problem." The "Jewish problem" for the Christians and Muslims is, to put it most simply, that the Jews are the "other." They differ, and are therefore considered a problem. Throughout the book, Cohen assumes the reader's knowledge of this and moves on to asking who the Jews were better off living with and why.
Cohen looks first at the religions themselves to begin his comparison of conflict. "Christianity arose as a radical, messianic movement within Judaism,"[4] according to the author. This is true to how it would have been perceived at its beginning, because Jesus was in fact a Jew who claimed to fulfill all of the messianic prophecy found in the Hebrew Scriptures. Cohen seems to think that hatred from Christians to Jews began because of tension between the two during the formation of Christianity.
While Islam borrows much from the Hebrew Scriptures, its beginning was not claimed to be a fulfillment of Judaism as Christianity was. Despite the shared qualities between the two, Islam was separate from Judaism in that it did not claim to fulfill it in the way Christianity did with Jesus. Therefore, there was less outright religious disagreement between Muslims and Jews, which resulted in less tension in comparison.
Besides these and other theological issues, Cohen also analyzes the "juridical, economic, social, and political circumstances as well as irrational convictions" concerning the issue of Jews under Islamic and Christian leadership. While Islam handled the "problem" of dealing with Jews who lived among them less violently than the Christians of this time did, the Jews were still considered to be a problem as they were in the category of "infidels." Socially, this would have placed them at the bottom of the ladder. This, along with submission to the Islamic authority ruling over them, would have been the price necessary to pay in order for peace. In contrast to Christian countries though, where Jewish people were "positioned outside the protective boundaries of religious and secular law," peace resulting from submission probably sounded exceedingly more hopeful.[5]
In conclusion, Cohen has "sought to explain why Jewish-Muslim and Jewish-Christian relations followed strikingly different courses in the Middle Ages." Under the Christians, "relations, favorable in the early Middle Ages, deteriorated beginning with the Crusades and especially in the thirteenth century until one can speak of a persecuting society." Under the Muslims in the Middle Ages, "the dhimmi enjoyed a kind of citizenship, second class and unequal though it was."[6]
[1] Cohen, Mark R. Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994) xix.
[2] Ibid, 9.
[3] Aydin, Mahmut. "Under Crescent & Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages." Insight Turkey. Academic One File (accessed February 23, 2011).
[4] Cohen, 17.
[5] Aydin.
[6] Cohen, 197.
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