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OverviewThe Burden of Silence is the first monograph on Sabbateanism, an early modern Ottoman-Jewish messianic movement, tracing it from its beginnings during the seventeenth century up to the present day. Initiated by the Jewish rabbi Sabbatai Sevi, the movement combined Jewish, Islamic, and Christian religious and social elements and became a transnational phenomenon, spreading througout Afro-Euroasia. When Ottoman authorities forced Sevi to convert to Islam in 1666, his followers formed messianic crypto-Judeo-Islamic sects, Dönmes, which played an important role in the modernization and secularization of Ottoman and Turkish society and, by extension, Middle Eastern society as a whole. Using Ottoman, Jewish, and European sources, Sisman examines the dissemination and evolution of Sabbeateanism in engagement with broader topics such as global histories, messianism, mysticism, conversion, crypto-identities, modernity, nationalism, and memory. By using flexible and multiple identities to stymie external interference, the crypto-Jewish Dönmes were able to survive despite persecution from Ottoman authorities, internalizing the Kabbalistic principle of a ""burden of silence"" according to which believers keep their secret on pain of spiritual and material punishment, in order to sustain their overtly Muslim and covertly Jewish identities. Although Dönmes have been increasingly abandoning their religious identities and embracing (and enhancing) secularism, individualism, and other modern ideas in the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey since the nineteenth century, Sisman asserts that, throughout this entire period, religious and cultural Dönmes continued to adopt the ""burden of silence"" in order to cope with the challenges of messianism, modernity, and memory. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Cengiz Sisman (Professor of History, Professor of History, University of Houston, Clear Lake)Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc Dimensions: Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.10cm Weight: 0.499kg ISBN: 9780190698560ISBN 10: 019069856 Pages: 340 Publication Date: 16 November 2017 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of ContentsList of Tables and Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Notes on Transliteration Introduction Chapter I: Remapping a Messianic Movement in the Early Modern World Chapter II: The Rise and Fall of the Sabbatean Movement in the Eurasian World Chapter III: From a Global Movement to an Ottoman Sect: The Birth of a Crypto-Messianic Community Chapter IV: Authority, Authenticity, and Leadership: Failed Prophecy and the Emergence of Post-Messianic Sects in the Ottoman Empire and Eastern Europe Chapter V: Politics of Crypto and Hybrid Identities among the Jews, Christians and Muslims Chapter VI: Religious Beliefs and Practices in Parallel Space and Time Chapter VII: The Experience of Modernity: The Emergence of Orthodox, Reformist and Liberal Dönmes Chapter VIII: From Empire to Nation-State: Resettlement in Modern Turkey Conclusion: Passion for the Waiting Bibliography IndexReviewsSisman's own research into different branches of the Sabbatean movement is substantiated and enriched by his personal encounters with surviving members of the sect Cengiz Sisman's historical account also reminds us how little has changed in our confused attitude to questions of religion and ethnicity. Times Literary Supplement This is the first comprehensive study of the history of a unique religious phenomenon: the development and survival, for three and a half centuries, of a sect of messianic Jews, who believed in the Messiah Sabbatai Sevi, and following him converted to Islam and lived as a secret group in Turkey. Sisman brilliantly analyzes the religious, social, and cultural background of their history and presents in this volume an intriguing picture of their beliefs and social integration in their surroundings. It critically yet nicely complements Gershom Scholem's magisterial work, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah. Joseph Dan, Gershom Scholem Professor of Kabbalah (Emeritus), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem By engaging with the available sources, Sisman elegantly constructs the history of one of the most mysterious communities, the Donmes, within the broader Ottoman-Turkish and Eurasian contexts. This is a path-breaking study, which demonstrates how this enigmatic community survived through the early modern and modern times, and made significant contributions to Ottoman and Turkish modernizations along the way. Heath W. Lowry, Ataturk Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies (Emeritus), Princeton University This book, based on years of research in various sources in multiple languages, is a highly significant study of the phenomenon of Sabbateanism over the centuries. Meticulously researched and contextualized, it makes a very important contribution to Ottoman, Turkish, and Jewish history. Aron Rodrigue, Charles Michael Professor in Jewish History and Culture at Stanford University Author InformationCengiz Sisman is Professor of History at University of Houston, Clear Lake. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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