David S. Katz

"This wide-ranging book is an intellectual history of how informed readers read their Bibles over the past four hundred years, from the first translations in the sixteenth century to the emergence of fundamentalism in the twentieth century. In an astonishing display of erudition, David Katz recreates the response of readers from different eras by examining the 'horizon of expectations' that provided the lens through which they read."--Jacket.

This book traces the Jewish thread throughout English life from the time of the Tudors to the beginning of mass immigration in the mid-nineteenth century. The writing of English history has very largely been framed without taking note of the Jewish presence at all - here, for the first time, the Jews are shown as an integral part of English religious and social history. David Katz explores completely new subjects in depth, such as the Jewish advocates of Henry VIII's divorce, and the Jewish conspirators of Elizabethan England, without neglecting themes such as the role of Jewish finance and the emergence of Anglo-Jewish institutions. This extensively researched and readable history of the Jews in England over almost four centuries will be essential for those interested in English and Jewish history alike.