Secret History #26: Faith of Evil

Jewish communities, Muslim rulers, and Christian minorities coexist under Islamic rule in medieval Spain.

A sultan, his vizier, and prisoners illustrate how frank confession can convert guilt into patronage and obedience.

The Dönmeh are families who followed Sabbatai Zevi into conversion while maintaining a distinct identity within the Ottoman world.

Jewish communities and European nobles form an implicit economic pact in medieval Christian societies.

Jacob Frank teaches followers that breaking conventional law is the path to spiritual truth and worldly power.

Jacob Frank instructs followers to dominate others through debate rather than violence, exploiting contradictions in sacred law.

Jacob Frank, born into a Sabbatean family, gathers followers who see him as the reincarnation of Sabbatai Zevi.

Jacob Frank and his followers rely on parables to transmit worldview shifts more effectively than direct instruction.

Jacob Frank and his followers reinterpret spiritual liberation as mastery of the material world rather than escape from it.

Jewish mercenaries, merchants, officials, and artisans spread across the Hellenistic world after Alexander’s conquests.

Jewish communities, early Muslims, and imperial authorities reinterpret Jerusalem after the rise of Islam.

Imperial powers in Egypt, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Persia compete to control Jerusalem because it sits at the center of regional trade routes.

Jewish communities across Europe and the Ottoman world confront theological despair after centuries of exile, massacre, and forced conversion.

Sabbatean followers interpret Zevi’s teachings as permission to break religious law while maintaining devotion to God.

Jacob Frank teaches followers to treat their inner circle as family bound by love stronger than fear or numbers.

A militant Jewish minority, the Maccabees, rebels against Hellenistic authorities and fellow Jews who accept Greek religious control.

The Persian Empire, local Levantine populations, and a newly consolidated Jewish community interact under a strategy of imperial control.

Jacob Frank’s follower Zakuboski and fearful townspeople illustrate how crisis can be exploited when fear suppresses normal exchange.

Jewish refugees, Polish-Lithuanian rulers, and invading powers shape a brief period of tolerance followed by renewed catastrophe.

Rabbis, descended from Pharisaic teachers, replace the Sadducee priesthood as the new leadership of Jewish life.

Roman authorities and Jewish communities clash in a series of wars that fracture the diaspora and transform religious leadership.

Jacob Frank debates rabbis about the meaning of divine experience and the place of worldly power in spiritual life.

Sabbatai Zevi, a charismatic figure in the Ottoman Empire, attracts massive Jewish followings by challenging rabbinic authority.

Christian populations, nobles, and Jewish minorities interact during periods of economic stress and political unrest.

Jacob Frank interprets creation stories to argue that humans gain wisdom by breaking rules, not by obedience alone.

Spanish Christian rulers, Jewish communities, and emerging converts confront a forced choice between baptism and exile.

Sadducee priests, temple authorities, and ordinary Jews operate within a ritual system centered on Jerusalem’s Second Temple.

Sabbatai Zevi, Ottoman authorities, and his Jewish followers confront the political reality of imperial power.