Thou Art the Man: The Masculinity of David in the Christian and Jewish Middle Ages

315 Pages·2021·45.898 MB·English

by  Ruth Mazo Karras

Thou Art the Man
THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES
Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor
A complete list of books in the series
is available from the publisher.
THOU ART THE MAN
The Masculinity of David
in the Christian and Jewish Middle Ages
Ruth Mazo Karras
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
Copyright © 2021 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for
purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may
be reproduced in any form by any means without written
permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
www . upenn . edu / pennpress
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Karras, Ruth Mazo, author.
Title: Thou art the man : the masculinity of David in the
Christian and Jewish Middle Ages / Ruth Mazo Karras.
Other titles: Middle Ages series.
Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia : University of
Pennsylvania Press, [2021] | Series: The Middle Ages series |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020037028 |
ISBN 978-0-8122-5302-3 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: David, King of Israel. | Masculinity—
Europe—History—To 1500. | Masculinity—Religious
aspects—Judaism—History—To 1500. | Masculinity—
Religious aspects—Christianity—History—To 1500.
Classification: LCC BS580.D3 K36 2021 |
DDC 222/.4092—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020037028
For CGK, again and again

contents
Acknowl edgments ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. David His Tens of Thousands: Prowess and Piety 23
Chapter 2. Surpassing the Love of Women: Love, Friendship,
Loyalty Between Men 64
Chapter 3. I Have Sinned Against the Lord: Sex and Penitence 101
Chapter 4. With Sacred Music upon the Harp: Creativity and Ecstasy 136
Chapter 5. O My Son Absalom: Establishing a Dynasty 165
Conclusion 205
Notes 209
Bibliography 261
Index 295

acknowl edgments
My work on what would become this book began in 2012–2013 at the Katz Cen-
ter for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. I thank the
then director, David Ruderman, and the staff for making that year pos si ble, and
my colleagues there, especially Esperanza Alfonso, the late Remie Constable, Eli-
sheva Baumgarten, Judah Galinsky, Elisabeth Hollender, Katelyn Mesler, S. J.
Pearce, Rami Reiner, Rebecca Winer, and Luke Yarborough, from whom I
learned a g reat deal. It continued in 2016–2017 at the Israel Institute for Ad-
vanced Studies. Thanks to Moshe Rosman for the invitation, and to medievalist
colleagues Elisheva Baumgarten, Renée Levine Melammed, Claudia Rosenzweig,
Paola Tartakoff, and Oded Zinger for the help particularly with Hebrew sources.
The latter research year was supported by a fellowship from EURIAS, Eu ro pean
Institutes for Advanced Study. It continued once again in 2018 as the Donald
Bullough Fellow at the University of St Andrews, and in 2019 as Scholar in Res-
idence at the American Acad emy in Rome.
During most of the time I worked on this book, I was employed by the Uni-
versity of Minnesota. I thank the College of Liberal Arts and Department of
History there, especially Gary Cohen and Elaine Tyler May as chairs, for mak-
ing the research leaves pos si ble, and all my colleagues there, especially Bernard
Bachrach, Mary Franklin Brown, Michelle Hamilton, Michael Lower, Wim
Phillips, Kathryn Reyerson, Andrea Sterk, and John Watkins, for making it a
wonderful intellectual community. The Department of History as a whole slowed
my pro gress on this book by electing me its chair from 2013 to 2016, but I never-
theless thank them for their confidence in me and their support.
I have presented portions of this work to a variety of diff er ent audiences,
and I thank them all for their invitations and feedback. In roughly chronological
order: University of Rochester; Gruss Colloquium in Judaic Studies, University
of Pennsylvania; Peking University; “New Directions in Medieval Masculini-
ties” conference, Duke University; Ohio Wesleyan University; Hollins College;