George Pieritz’s Role as a Convert in the Damascus Affair of 1840

The Damascus Affair of 1840 was one of the first modern blood libels. Jonathan Frankel’s The Damascus Affair (1997) and Ronald Florence’s Blood Libel (2006) examine this affair in detail. In both, George Pieritz appears as an important secondary character. Pieritz, a missionary at Christ Church in Jerusalem, played an important role in ensuring the Jews` innocence in the eyes of British observers. This lecture examines Pieritz`s role as a convert from Judaism to Christianity. The study considers Pieritz`s work as an example of Kendall Soulen`s theological concept of the “blessing of an other.”