The Penitential System of Hasidei Ashkenaz and the Problem of Cultural Boundaries.

Asserts the influence of Christianity in the extreme acts of atonement practiced by the Jewish ascetics within the Hasidut Ashkenaz subculture. Absence of Jewish precedents to the tale of three penitents in a passage in 'Sefer Hasidim'; Parallelism between medieval Christian penitential tracts and Rhineland's pietism's penitential system.