The Myth of Ritual Murder: Jews and Magic in Reformation Germany

by R. Po-chia Hsia

From the mid-fifteenth century to the early seventeenth, German Jews were persecuted and tried for the alleged ritual murders of Christian children, whose blood purportedly played a crucial part in Jewish magical rites.  In this engrossing book R. Po-Chia Hsia traces the rise and decline of ritual murder trials during that period.  Using sources ranging from Christian and Kabbalistic treatises to judicial records and popular pamphlets, Hsia examines the religious sources of the idea of child sacrifice and blood symbolism and reconstructs the political context of ritual murder trials against the Jews.
“This volume combines clarity of thinking, elegance of style, and exemplary scholarly attention to detail with intellectual sobriety and human compassion.”―Jerome Friedman, Sixteenth Century Journal
“Hsia has… succeeded in turning established knowledge to illuminatingly new purposes.”―G.R. Elton, New York Review of Books
“This meticulously researched and unusually perceptive book is social and intellectual history at its best.”― Library Journal
“A fresh perspective on an old problem by a major new talent.”―Steven Ozment, Harvard University
R. Po-chia Hsia, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is also the author of Society and Religion in Münster, 1535-1618

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, European History, Judaism, 16th Century, Academic

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 1988

About the author

Ronnie Hsia is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History at Penn State University, Pennsylvania, USA.

His research is focused on the history of the Protestant Reformation, Catholic Renewal, anti-Semitism, and the encounter between Europe and Asia.

Reviews

[Cali · Rating 4 out of 5]

ronnie... i enjoyed the structure of your book! I <3 Kabbalistic discourse!

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was cleary written and meticulously researched. So many details that, at times, it was overwhelming. Regardless, however, it was very informative. Ignore the final chapter where Hsia makes the unsupported argument that the Reformation solved all the problems in the world; specifically, he stated that the Reformation effectively put an end to the blood libel charge, which simply was not the case.

Anyway, if you find the history of religion or late medieval Europe interesting, this is a pretty good book that provides insight into an area much studied but not well understood by many.