Wolfgang Hutter

Long form article-thread on Christopher Clark's book on German missionary activity among Jews and Clark's theories for the transformation of that "eschatology" from the days of the Reformation up until the Third Reich or "How German Christians go from 'The Jews are our salvation' to the 'Jews are our misfortune" One of the pre-occupations of ecclesiastical - but also merchant and even noble - elites in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries was the conversion of the Jews. Christopher Clark has explored this subject in detail and – in his view - this was not a simple issue of practicality. The conversion of the Jews was understood in “eschatological terms”, as this conversion was apart of the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. One primary and early example of this studied by Clark was the Institutum Judaicum founded by Johann Heinrich Callenberg in 1728 which sought to evangelize the Jews but also to transform their culture and social ethics. Missions like these were not particularly successful (leading to a small amount of conversions, and even the successful conversions were – in some cases - just Jews (and even some poor people impersonating Jews) using the mission as a way to find food or employment), but furthermore, this specific institute and these missionary efforts continued on because the eschatological mission was seen as essential for promoting a Christian worldview and a Christian mission for the state. This excerpt from Clark summarizes this well, citing another German theologian by the name of Phillip Jakob Spener "If we look at Holy Scripture, we need not doubt that God has promised a better state of the Church on Earth. We have, above all, the heartfelt prophecy of St Paul and the mystery revealed to him (Romans, XI: 25, 26), of how Israel shall become blessed after the fullness of the heathens shall be gone in, so that a great part, if not all, of the hitherto stubborn Jews shall be converted to the Lord"

Alan Taylor on Bejamin Tibbetts - an early settler of Maine and a veteran of the War of 1812 - as a case study in the worldview of the early American "revolutionary" frontiersmen, "white Indians" who feared God and didn't let a century old land deed stand between them and their autonomy as yeoman farmers, "freeholders", and patriarchs (from one of Taylor's first books entitled "Liberty Men and Great Proprietors" a very worthwhile book for anyone interested in the early American frontier or the origins of Jeffersonian politics)

Whatever happened to Ahmed Chalibi? Where do they store him at? I miss him....they should defrost him and put him in charge of Syria or some place like that.

Saxon bog drowning is more appropriate in that case (workhouses and guillotines are to humanitarian)

People rarely bring up 17th century Dutch workhouses as a solution to the problem of beggars and the homeless. Worth considering.

What used to be our nation is run by mental infants. This has replaced the Bible and Homer. God help us

Theodor Mommsen on moral degeneration and the decline of the family in the Roman empire.

It's an iron law of 20th/21st century historiography that every generation of historians needs a vaguely right-wing Russia/Communism specialist who rises to the top of his field and changes the way we see the past.

John Manwood on the origins, terminology, and definition of the "forest" from his 16th century treatise on "forest laws" in England

If you think you have similar taste to me in non-fiction lit, then you will probably really like this book.

Has there ever been a point in European history where Croats aren't doing something bloodthirsty and fucked up?

Schiller on the "sack of Magdeburg" in the Thirty Years War.

Ernst Troeltsch on the "Protestant work ethic"

"Can I get that historiography with a side of historiography....and if you could put some more historiography on the side that would be great thanks"

One of the few times I feel like "thank God for AI". Some guy can take make the Kantorowicz biography come to life with a MacBook. Genuinely well done. youtube.com/watch?v=xvGTVDrm…

Theres only one Jewish prime minister named Benjamin that I acknowledge as legitimate

This question has a long history, the "dueling replica crowns" is just the tip of the iceberg (from Horst Bredekamp)

Carl Peters on German colonization both past and present (from his book "Gesellschaft für Deutsche Kolonisation", 1886)

Stefan George could leave quite an impression (from Lepenies "Between Literature and Science: The Rise of Sociology")

Ernst Cassirer on the idea of "Enlightenment" thought as anti or "non-historical" in substance (from "The Philosophy of Enlightenment")