Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong

We consider how best to understand the origins of the laws and customs of the Jewish people, or what we call "Judaism." We begin by dispelling the notion that Judaism (or any other belief system apart from Christianity) can properly be called a "religion" -- a category that derives originally from Christian practice and does not make sense anywhere else. We further examine the roots of the idea of "Judaism" as a concept for the Jewish way of life, concluding with a careful analysis of the meaning of the ancient Greek word "ioudaismos," which originates in the Book of Maccabees. Finally, we trace the best possible explanation for the origins of the Jewish people in the Bronze-Age Near East, using archaeological evidence including an ancient Egyptian monument and the vandalized ruins of Canaanite temples. Ultimately, we should be able to understand Judaism and its God as the creations of a particular Middle Eastern people not entirely unlike their ancient neighbors. Special thanks to Daniel Boyarin for his help and inspiration. Please become a patron at any level in order to hear the next lecture, on "The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution" -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/14535522

We cap off the series of lectures on the Middle Ages by piecing together how the people of the high and late Middle Ages understood their place in the cosmos. From the lowliest peasants to popes and emperors, medievals believed they formed the limbs of a living, breathing social body, and that body or tree was part of a Great Chain of Being connecting rocks and dirt to stars and planets and ultimately to God. Through these metaphors we can understand why medievals disapproved of commerce and abhorred high finance. We end with a commentary on the great, crowning statement of the late medieval mind, the prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Please support these lectures, at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

We examine how medieval scholars battled over the meanings of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and of the Christian religion, while illiterate artisans made breakthroughs in architecture, engineering, metallurgy, and alchemy. The vast body of medieval scholarship came under attack during the Renaissance as so many "metaphysical obscurities," while today we stand on the precipice of a true Dark Age of ignorance. Become a patron to hear the next installment -- Middle Ages 10: Sex and Sexuality in the Middle Ages -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/11878439

We examine the long train of crusading expeditions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, from the triumphs of Richard the Lionheart to the trainwreck of the sack of Constantinople. We consider the many ways that modern myths have distorted the Crusades for political purposes and erased the Crusaders' central motivation: control of Jerusalem. Become a patron of HIstoriansplaining in order to hear the next lecture, on the Knights Templar -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/11370067

We examine the forces that led the Pope to put forward the far-fetched scheme of mobilizing Christian knights to reclaim Jerusalem in 1095, and briefly consider what lesson the launching of the first Crusade holds for our own world almost 1,000 years later. Become a patron of Historiansplaining in order to hear the lecture on the First Crusade and how it miraculously succeeded in capturing Jerusalem -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/11130531

We examine the flourishing of the Middle Ages between 1000 and 1300, which gave us chivalry, Gothic cathedrals, epics of King Arthur, and nearly all of the romantic images that we still associate with the medieval era, even as the noose of social conformity and repression began to tighten around Europe. Become a patron of Historiansplaining in order to hear the next lecutre on the Late Middle Ages and follow how medieval civilization nearly broke down under the strain of the Black Death, peasant rebellions, and the gunpowder revolution -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/9369380

The beginning of a series of lectures on the Middle Ages. We start by throwing out the junk, such as the notions that medievals smelled bad and liked to hunt witches, and then look into the mystical and apocalyptic roots of the idea that history should be divided into three ages. Become a patron of Historiansplaining in order to hear the next lecture, on the "Dark Age," in which the medieval civilization first arose -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/8814492