Erasmus and the Jews

of Rotterdam was greatest Christian humanist scholar of Northern European Renaissance, a correspondent of Sir Thomas More and many other learned men of his time, known to his contemporaries and to posterity for subtlety of his thought and depth of his learning. He was also, according to some modern writers, an anti-Semite. In this complete analysis of all of Erasmus' writings on and Judaism, Shimon Markish asserts that accusation cannot be sustained. For Markish, to ask whether was a friend or enemy of is to ask a modern question of a sixteenth-century man, whose attitude can best be called asemitism. Erasmus' chief preoccupation was with future of the true philosophy of Christ; he had little interest in Jewish community of his own time. Erasmus and Jews discusses Erasmus' critique of Mosaic law and his view of conflict between as legalistic morality and Jesus' teaching; his judgment on Pharisees of Jesus' time; his emphasis on importance of study of Hebrew; and his opinions of sixteenth-century Jews. This meticulous analysis reveals an who defended his vision of true piety by rejecting Judaizing Christians more than and who saw Old Testament as integral to Christian worldview. As a Christian, he regretted nonbelief and pitied unbelievers, without vicious hostility toward any single people. His theological opposition to a form of religious thought which he identified with Judaism was not translated into crude prejudice against actual Jews. In general, his calm consideration of strange and foreign and his willingness to restrict his judgments to philosophical realm were, Markish argues, early and significant steps toward enlightened toleration. Markish's discussion of is supplemented with an Afterword by theologian and philosopher Arthur A. Cohen, who offers a variant interpretation of Erasmus' writings and attitudes. The juxtaposed arguments of two scholars make this an especially illuminating work for any student of and his influence. Erasmus and Jews also gives a necessary clarity to our understanding of meaning of anti-Semitism and history of religious toleration. Markish's profound knowledge of allows him to demonstrate thefundamentalimportance of putting arguments and terminology in context of a thinker's work and hisown time

Art history · Atheism · Epistemology · Erasmus · Humanism · Judaism · Morality · New Testament · Piety · The Renaissance · Theology · Classics · History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious Freedom and Discrimination · Religious studies

• Jewish Persecutions and Weather Shocks

  Open Access•Robert W Anderson, Noel D Johnson et al.•The Economic Journal•2017

  Add to list

• John Foxe and the Jews

  Open Access•Sharon Achinstein•Renaissance Quarterly•2001

  Add to list