Theology And Poetry: Studies In The Medieval Piyyut

Book Summary

This reprint of a classic work by scholar and theologian Jakob Petuchowski contends that theology has a greater affinity to poetry than to the sciences. Petuchowski points out that unconventional theological views were often expressed in poetic form and such poetry was frequently incorporated into the traditional liturgy of the Synagogues. In Theology and Poetry, Petuchowski provides the texts, English translations, and commentaries on a number of theological poems (piyyutim) written from the sixth through the fourteenth centuries in Palestine, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy. The themes of the poems range from the problem of speaking about God to confronting adversity, the concept of man, Revelation, and the messianic hope. Petuchowski introduces each poem with a survey of Jewish thought on the poem's particular theme. Petuchowski shows Rabbinic literature to be a vast storehouse of different, often conflicting theoretical positions, with no attempt made to achieve doctrinal uniformity. Theology and Poetry will interest scholars and students of medieval studies, poetry, and Jewish liturgy.

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