Isaac On Jewish and Christian Altars: Polemic and Exegesis in Rashi and the Glossa Ordinaria

Chapter One. The Developing Jewish–Christian Polemic

In the late eleventh and early twelfth century Christian anti-Jewish polemic began to intensify and was met with a Jewish response in Hebrew Crusade narratives and in Hebrew Bible commentaries. This chapter traces the history of this polemic, including major polemical texts. It then situates Rashi and the Glossa Ordinaria in the context of these developments by examining polemical literature from the school of Laon and the evidence for polemic in Rashi's commentary.