"Twelve essays take the unique approach of connecting Christian allegory, talmudic hermeneutics, and Levinasian interpretation, as authors put into dialogue the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas with a variety of English and rabbinic writings from the Middle Ages, thus illuminating what it means to classify medieval texts as profoundly ethical"--Provided by publisher. "It is clear that the contributors are steeped in Levinas's work: reading through the volume gives one a good introduction to many of Levinas's main texts and themes." -- Review of English Studies "Reading literary texts through the lens of Emmanuel Levinas's thought can seem counterintuitive given Levinas's apparent ambivalence toward art. Yet it is this very tension between art and Levinasian ethics that makes this collection of twelve essays and an introduction an intriguing and intellectually stimulating project." -- Journal of English and Germanic Philology ANN W. ASTELL is professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. She was previously professor of English at Purdue University. She is the recipient of an NEH Fellowship and of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. She has authored six books, including The Song of Songs in the Middle Ages and Eating Beauty: The Eucharist and the Spiritual Arts of the Middle Ages. A board member for the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, she also serves as executive secretary of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion. J. A. JACKSON is assistant professor of English at Hillsdale College. He is a member of the North American Levinas Society, the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, and the Medieval Academy of America.