Milan Žonca
PhDr. Milan Žonca, Ph.D. (*1985)
mzonca[at]flu.cas.cz
Milan Žonca is a cultural and intellectual historian of Judaism. He studied Hebrew Studies and Religious Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague and completed his PhD in History at Queen Mary, University of London under the supervision of Professor Miri Rubin in 2015. He has been postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Philosophy since 2016. He is also affiliated with the Department of Middle Eastern Studies of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague as a lecturer in Hebrew and Jewish Studies (since 2014) and with the University Centre for the Study of Ancient and Medieval Thought (since 2016).
His research focuses on Jewish intellectual and cultural history in the Late Middle Ages, the reception of Aristotelian thought in medieval Judaism, especially in Central Europe, Jewish theories of learning, as well as medieval Jewish-Christian polemic and inter-religious interaction in religious thought and practice.
Publications
Monographs
Nachmanidovy polemiky [The Polemics of Naḥmanides] (Praha: Academia, 2012), ISBN 978-80-200-2208-0, 260pp.
A study of the engagement of Moses ben Naḥman (Naḥmanides, 1195–1270) in the Maimonidean controversy in the 1230s and in the 1263 Barcelona disputation with the convert Paul Christian, accompanied by translations of his texts relating to these episodes.
Studies
‘The “Imagined Communities” of Yom Ṭov Lipman Mühlhausen: Heresy and Communal Boundaries in Sefer Niẓẓaḥon’, in: Christoph Cluse and Lukas Clemens (eds.), European Jewry Around 1400 (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 2018), 95–119.
‘“…And Order Was Upset”: Easter, the Eucharist, and the Jews of Prague, 1389’, in: Jonathan Adams and Cordelia Heß (eds.), The Medieval Roots of Antisemitism: Continuities and Discontinuities from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (New York: Routledge, 2018), 287–305.
‘Židovská konverze ke křesťanství ve středověku mezi metaforou a realitou’ [‘Jewish Conversion to Christianity in the Middle Ages Between Metaphor and Reality’], Religio 25:2 (2017), 189–204
‘Několik poznámek k intelektuálnímu profilu Avigdora Kary’ [‘Some Remarks on the Intellectual Profile of Avigdor Kara’], in: Daniel Boušek, Magdalena Křížová, Pavel Sládek (eds.), Dvarim meatim:Studie pro Jiřinu Šedinovou [Festschrift for Jiřina Šedinová] (Praha: Faculty of Arts, 2016), 35–56.
Ph.D. thesis
Difference and Intellectual Diversity in Late-Medieval Ashkenaz, 1350–1500 (PhD thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2015), 296pp.
Supervisor: Prof Miri Rubin
Examiners: Prof Ada Rapoport-Albert (UCL), Prof Israel J. Yuval (Jerusalem)
Reviews
„Ephraim Kanarfogel, The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz“, Journal of Intellectual History and Political Thought , 2 (2013), 232–238.
„Paola Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250–1391“, Parergon, 30 (2013), 280–282.
„Joseph Canning, Ideas of Power in the Late Middle Ages, 1296–1417“, Journal of Intellectual History and Political Thought, 1 (2012), 261–264.
„Jiřina Šedinová et al., Dialog myšlenkových proudů středověkého judaismu: Mezi izolací a integrací“, Asian and African Studies , 20 (2011), 301–302.
„Zdeněk Müller, Jeruzalém mezi minulostí a budoucností“, Nový Orient, 59 (2004), 63.
Lectures and Presentations (selection)
Christianity and Christians in Yom Tov Lipmann Mühlhausen’s Sefer Niẓaḥon, XIth Congress of the European Association of Jewish Studies, Kraków, 15–19 July 2018
Yom Tov Lipmann Mühlhausen and his 1399 ‘Disputation’ with Pessah/Peter , Disruption and Resilience in Later Medieval Ashkenaz: Jewish Experience and Jewish Reactions, 1350–1520, Universität Trier, 9–10 July 2018
Menahem ben Jacob Shalem and the Study of the Guide of the Perplexed in Fifteenth-Century Ashkenaz, 17th World Congress of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 6 August 2017
The Soul in Philosophical Critique of Kabbalah in Late-Medieval Ashkenaz
‘A Key to the Soul: Philosophical Knowledge, Spiritual Life, and Religious Identity in Medieval Judaism (1250–1600)’, Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, 12-13 June 2017.
Greek Wisdom in Jerusalem: Medieval Jewish Encounters with Aristotelian Texts in and Around Prague, ‘Studying the Arts in Medieval Bohemia: Production, Reception and Transmission of Knowledge at the Arts Faculty of Prague University in the Middle Ages’, 2nd Annual Meeting of Societas Artistarum , Prague, 9 December 2016.
The Three Faces of a Jewish Scholar: The Jewish Community of Prague and the Intellectual Landscape of Late-Medieval Ashkenaz, ‘Intervowen Regional Worlds: Jews and Christians in Bavaria, Bohemia and Austria (1349-1648)’, Conference organised by the Seminar for History at LMU Munich in cooperation with the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Regensburg, 13 September 2016.
Jewish-Christian Polemic and Violence in Fourteenth-Century Prague, ‘The Medieval Roots of Antisemitism’, The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, Stockholm, 9 February 2015
The Discourses of Heresy in Yom Tov Lipman Mühlhausen’s Sefer Niẓaḥon, Xth Congress of the European Association of Jewish Studies, Paris, 24 July 2014.
Nuancing the Errors of the Jews: Talmud and Heresy in the 13th and 14th-century Anti-Jewish Polemics, International Medieval Congress 2014, University of Leeds, Leeds, 9 July 2014.
Jews as Members of the Urban Community in Pre-Hussite Prague, ‘Jews in Medieval Town: Urban Space in the Middle Ages – A Place of Coexistence and Conflicts’, Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic & Centre for Medieval Studies, Prague; 28 November 2013.
Tradition and Innovation in Late-Medieval Ashkenazic Intellectual Culture, Eight Medieval History Seminar of the German Historical Institute London & German Historical Institute, Washington, DC; London, 11 October 2013.
The ‘Imagined Communities’ of Yom Tov Lipman Mühlhausen: Heresy and Communal Boundaries in Sefer Nizahon, ‘European Jewry Around 1400: Disruption, Crisis, and Resilience’, Arye Maimon-Institut für Geschichte der Juden, Universität Trier, Germany, 2 October 2013.
Challenges in the History of Jewish-Christian Polemics: A Case Study of the Barcelona Disputation , ‘London Society for Medieval Studies’ Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London, 14 May 2013
Rabbis, Philosophers, and Reformers: On Jewish-Christian Interaction in Late-Medieval Prague, ‘Jewish History’ Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London, 14 May 2013
Religious Diversity in Central European Jewish Communities of the Late Middle Ages, ‘European History 1150–1550’ Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London, 31 January 2013.
Israel ben Abraham: An Ashkenazic Translator of Latin Scholastic Texts?, ‘The Jews and the Sciences’, The British Association of Jewish Studies Annual Conference, University College London, 28 June 2012.
‘Follow the Safer Way, My Brother’: Philosophical Critique of Kabbalah in Late Medieval Ashkenaz, ‘Jewish Spirituality in Eastern Europe – A Textual Perspective’, Graduate Conference, University College London; 6 June 2012.
Rationalism and Heresy: Jews in the Intellectual Landscape of Late Fourteenth-Century Prague , German History Society Annual General Meeting, King’s College, London; 9 September 2011.
