Jews, Judaism and the Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Germany

Abstract

The editors have assembled essays from eighteen established and rising scholars of the German Reformation and of the Jews and Judaism in Germany in the same period. The unifying theme is that in spite of their small numbers, Jews were very much part of Germany and Hebrew and Jewish learning were very much part of the Reformation. While the theses may seem unremarkable, many studies tend to take a less integrated approach to both Judaism and the Reformation. Bell and Burnett succeed in directing scholars to essay topics that could provide important insights and maintain thematic unity. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1, ‘The Road to Reformation’, contains two essays. Erika Rummel's ‘Humanists, Jews, and Judaism’ treats the rise of Hebrew and Jewish learning among humanists. She looks at Heinrich Agrippa and Johannes Reuchlin as proponents of Jewish knowledge and how their studies led to charges of Judaizing. Christopher Ocker's ‘German Theologians and the Jews in the Fifteenth Century’ examines the sermons and arguments of Nicholas of Dinkelsbühl and Peter Schwartz. These preachers seem less concerned with the religion and lives of real Jews, persecuting and converting them, than with asserting the superiority of Christianity over a Jewish faith that was a Christian theological construct.