Dowdey, David

Dr. David Dowdey is Professor of German Language and Literature at Pepperdine University, California. He received his Ph.D. in German Studies from Vanderbilt University. He was the recipient of a DAAD award for doctoral studies at the Free University of Berlin, and also received an NEH grant for a summer seminar at Indiana University. Dr. Dowdey has presented papers at professional conferences and has published review essays in the Lessing Yearbook, The Germanic Quarterly, and Monatshefte.

Jewish-Christian Relations in Eigthteenth-Century Germany

2006 0-7734-5912-X
For centuries, the Jewish population of Europe has been subjected to dehumanization. Studies of European history, culture, and religion often assume that anti-Semitism is a specifically Christian phenomenon. This study sketches the historical background of anti-Semitism and extensively examines publications of the Institutum Judaicum in Halle as well as other pertinent archival materials, endeavoring to delineate some of the key people – particularly Johann Heinrich Callenberg – and how they contributed to rehumanizing the Jews.