Mazzah, Eucharist, and the Jewish-Christian Conversation in The Birds' Head Haggadah by Mark Michael Epstein
| Event Type: | Lecture |
| Location: | Mather Hall Rittenberg Lounge |
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Wednesday, April 03, 2013
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
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Calendars:
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Featured Homepage Events,Lectures & Presentations
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Contact:
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Marjorie R. Harter
(860)297-2472
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| Department: | Jewish Studies |
The so-called Birds' Head Haggadah, probably illuminated in Mainz around 1300, now in the collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, is one of the strangest manuscripts ever created. But alongside the singular strangeness of its bird-headed protagonists, which have surprised and delighted viewers and puzzled scholars for over a hundred years, the manuscript contains what can only be described as a hidden or covert visual "discussion" of one of the key accusations leveled against Jews in the Middle Ages—that of the intentional desecration of the Host. Professor Epstein presents a new reading and interpretation of the images as part of his larger project of unpacking the enigmas of this extraordinary manuscript.
Marc Michael Epstein is Professor of Religion at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. His most recent book, The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Nar-rative, and Religious Imagination (Yale University Press, 2011) was selected by the London Times Literary Supplement as one of the Best Books of the Year.