Hebraist Authors and the Mediation of Jewish Scholarship

Abstract

The Christian Hebraist project involved appropriating new skills and information from Jewish texts to enrich Christian scholarship. Hebraists mediated the contents of Jewish books for Christian readers, judging what they thought was useful for them to know, and transmitting the information in an appropriate way through their books. Hebraist authors of grammars and dictionaries relied heavily upon Jewish books when composing their own works. Jewish scholars were responsible for the creation of what would become the standard printed biblical text, one of the most important achievements in biblical studies of the entire Reformation era. Christian Hebraist authors pursued somewhat broader interests in the century of confessional conflict after 1560, but the profile of their printed works largely reflects the earlier period. Christian Hebraists also produced a number of essays and manuals that addressed both theoretical and practical questions related to Hebrew grammar and lexicography after 1560. Keywords:Christian Hebraist authors; Jewish books; Jewish scholars; Reformation era