Vindicating Converso Religiosity

Alonso de Oropesa on the Pauline Conversion as a Jewish–Christian Transformation

Bibliographic Data

ID23311733
AuthorsYosi Yisraeli (0000-0002-9536-782X, Bar-Ilan University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume17
Issue7
Pages862
Publication date2026-07-21
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel17070862
OpenAlexW7169912661
LanguageEN
References cited19

This article offers a fresh reading of Alonso de Oropesa’s Lumen ad revelationem gentium (1465) and of the pro-converso theology of this Hieronymite friar, through a close reading of a specific and largely neglected section of the treatise. This reading complicates the prevailing scholarly view that the Lumen expresses an essentially egalitarian theological vision. The article argues that Oropesa’s intensely anti-Jewish stance and emphasis on Pauline spirituality were part of a more layered and ambitious argument—one that sought to establish a genuine continuity between Judaism and Christianity through a creative reinterpretation of Paul and his conversion. Drawing on a highly original reading of the ice-water metaphor from Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Job and the letter-spirit binary of II Corinthians 3:6, Oropesa articulated a bold vindication of Jewish heritage as a worthy and enduring component of Christianity’s own fabric—preserved, rather than erased, through spiritual transformation. The article further suggests that this theological vision extended beyond the realm of ideas into that of practice, offering a new background for understanding the devotional culture of Hieronymite conversos and its eventual collision with the Inquisition.

Christianity · Judaism · Reading (process) · Realm · Reinterpretation · Sanctification · Spirituality · Historical Economic and Legal Thought · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Sephardic Jews and Inquisition Studies

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