Volume 18 (2020): Issue 4 (August 2020) Issue 4 (Aug 2020): From Paris to Tortosa, via Barcelona (1240-1413), Characters, Issues and Problems in Medieval Jewish-Christian Disputations. Editor: Francesco Bianchi
Volume 20 (2022): Issue 5 (December 2022) Doctoral Supplement. Postgraduate Research in Contemporary Evangelical Higher Education: Academic Perspectives on Variegated Theological and Historical Topics. Issue Editor: Marcel V. Măcelaru
Volume 20 (2022): Issue 4 (December 2022) Miscellaneous Theological Investigations. From Economy, Literature, and Hermeneutics to Christology, Exegesis, and Typology. Issue Editor: Corneliu C. Simuț
Volume 20 (2022): Issue 3 (July 2022) A Multi-Angle Examination of C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces. Theological, Philosophical, Ethical, and Literary Insights from one of Lewis's Greatest Novels. Issue Editor: Zachary Breitenbach
Volume 20 (2022): Issue 2 (June 2022) Reform according to Right Law: the Use of Legal Tradition in Reformation Theology. Issue Editor: André A. Gazal
Volume 20 (2022): Issue 1 (March 2022) Confessing the Trinity. The Trinitarianism of Particular Baptists, 1640s-1840s. Issue Editor: Michael A. G. Haykin
Volume 19 (2021): Issue 3 (July 2021) Islam and Islamism. The Challenge for Modern Liberal Democracies. Issue Editors: Raphael Lataster, Rumy Hasan
Volume 19 (2021): Issue 2 (June 2021) Fundamental Aspects of Christological Anthropology: Theological and Philosophical Perspectives in Contemporary Debates. Editor: Christopher G. Woznicki
Volume 19 (2021): Issue 1 (March 2021) Revivalism in Central European Protestantism, 1840-1940: Hungarian Calvinists, British Evangelicals & German-Austrian Pietists during the Spiritual Renewal of Protestant Churches in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Editor: Ábraham Kovács
Volume 18 (2020): Issue 6 (December 2020) The Catholic Reformation. Ecclesiology, Justification, Freedom, Sin, Grace & the Council of Trent. Editor: Eduardo J. Echeverria
Volume 18 (2020): Issue 5 (October 2020) Roman Catholic, Reformed Catholic and Evangelical Protestant. Reformation Issues Five Hundred Years Later. Editor: Issue editor: Joshua R. Farris
Volume 18 (2020): Issue 4 (August 2020) Issue 4 (Aug 2020): From Paris to Tortosa, via Barcelona (1240-1413), Characters, Issues and Problems in Medieval Jewish-Christian Disputations. Editor: Francesco Bianchi
Volume 18 (2020): Issue 3 (July 2020) In the Footsteps of the Divine Artist. On the Religious and Spiritual Dimension in Art. Editors: Wessel Stoker and Frank G. Bosman
Volume 18 (2020): Issue 2 (June 2020) De Corpore – ‘On the Body’ through the History of Idea, Views of the Body in Philosophy, Literature and Religion. Editor: Ramona Simuț
Volume 18 (2020): Issue 1 (March 2020) Baptist and Reformed Theologies of Vision and Deification (2). Constructive Issues in Contemporary Research. Editors: Joshua R. Farris and Ryan A. Brandt
Volume 17 (2019): Issue 4 (December 2019) Patristic Thought in Byzantine and Protestant Theology. From Gregory Palamas and George Pachymeres to Luther, Calvin, Anglicans, and Anabaptists. Editor: Andre A. Gazal
Volume 17 (2019): Issue 3 (July 2019) Contemporary Evangelicals on Carl F. H. Henry’s Theology. From Philosophy, Evangelism, and Apologetics to Education, History, and Practice. Editor: Robert W. Talley
Volume 17 (2019): Issue 2 (June 2019) Baptist and Reformed Theologies of Vision and Deification. Editors: Joshua R. Farris and Ryan A. Brandt
Volume 17 (2019): Issue s2 (July 2019) Single Author Supplement 2: The Background and Nature of the Dissensions in 1 Corinthians 1-4. Apollos' Role and Paul's Response. Author: Corin Mihăilă
Volume 17 (2019): Issue s1 (January 2019) Single Author Supplement 1: Theological Patterns in Reformation Thought. English, American, and Scottish Protestants on Christ, Revival, and the Covenant. Author: Dinu Moga
Volume 17 (2019): Issue 1 (March 2019) The Father, Son, and Spirit in Early Christian Theology, Second Century Examples. Editor: Paul A. Hartog
Volume 16 (2018): Issue 4 (December 2018) Tome huitième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Contemporary Perspectives on History and Theology in British Baptist Thought. Scottish and English Baptists on Salvation, Politics, and the End of Times. Issue editor: Alasdair Black
Volume 16 (2018): Issue 3 (July 2018) Tome septieme: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Teaching Leaders, Leading Teachers. Biblical and Historical Perspectives on Education and Leadership: Jeffrey M. Horner Issue editor: Jeffrey M. Horner
Volume 16 (2018): Issue 2 (June 2018) Tome sixième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Contemporary Perspectives on Molinism. Theories, Responses to Objections, and Applications, Issue editor: Kirk R. MacGregor
Volume 16 (2018): Issue 1 (April 2018) Tome cinquième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Insights into Contemporary Baptist Thought. Perspectives on European Baptist Theology and History, Issue editor: Toivo Pilli
Volume 15 (2017): Issue 4 (December 2017) Special Issue: Tome quatrieme: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Investigating the Magisterial Reformation and Its Radical Contenders. Contemporary Evangelicals on Reformation Research: from Lutheranism and Zwinglianism to Anabaptism and Baptism, Issue Editor: Marvin Jones
Volume 15 (2017): Issue 3 (October 2017) Special Issue: Tome troisième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Theologizing about Spirituality, Pedagogy, and Soteriology. Miscellanea Antiqua, Medievalia, Reformatorica & Moderna by Corneliu Simuț
Volume 15 (2017): Issue 2 (July 2017) Special Issue: : Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. ‘On the Soul’ through the History of Ideas. Views of the Soul in Philosophy, Literature & Relivion by Ramona Simuț
Volume 15 (2017): Issue 1 (May 2017) Issue title: Tome premier: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation: 1517-2017. Anthologizing History, the Bible, and Theology. Miscellanea Celtica, Humanistica & Reformatorica by Thomas O’Loughlin and Corneliu C. Simuț
Volume 14 (2016): Issue 3 (December 2016) Avant-Premiere: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Contemporary Perspectives on Reformed Orthodoxy. Reformed Confessions, Scholastic Thought, and Puritan Divinity in Post-Reformation Protestantism, Issue Editors: Gijsbert van den Brink, Aza Goudriaan
Volume 14 (2016): Issue 2 (October 2016) Transformative Poetry and Its Role in Catholic Theology. Dutch Contributions to Contemporary Catholic Research. Issue Editors: Archibald L. H. M. van Wieringen, Marcel Sarot. Translator: Brian Heffernan
Volume 14 (2016): Issue 1 (June 2016) African Hermeneutics in the Twenty-First Century. Social History and Indigenous Theologies in Contemporary African Research. Issue Editor: Zorodzai Dube
Volume 13 (2015): Issue 2 (October 2015) Issue title: The Long History of Lutheranism in Scandinavia. Contemporary Voices in Finnish Historical Research. Issue Editor: Pirjo Markkola
Volume 13 (2015): Issue 1 (June 2015) Issue Title: The Value of Controversy. Defining Early Modern Religion through Ritual and Writing. Issue Editor: Angela Ranson
Volume 12 (2014): Issue 2 (October 2014) Special issue title: Exploring the Contours of Patristic Thought. Studies on Exegesis, Christology, and Soteriology in the Early Church
Volume 12 (2014): Issue 1 (June 2014) Established and Emerging Voices in Richard Hooker Research, Issue Editor: Paul A. Dominiak
Volume 11 (2013): Issue 2 (December 2013)
Volume 11 (2013): Issue 1 (June 2013)
Volume 10 (2012): Issue 2 (June 2012)
Volume 10 (2012): Issue 1 (January 2012)
Journal Details
Format
Journal
eISSN
2284-7308
First Published
20 Sep 2012
Publication timeframe
3 times per year
Languages
English
Search
Volume 18 (2020): Issue 4 (August 2020) Issue 4 (Aug 2020): From Paris to Tortosa, via Barcelona (1240-1413), Characters, Issues and Problems in Medieval Jewish-Christian Disputations. Editor: Francesco Bianchi
Cet article met en lumière la réception du Talmud parmi les érudits parisiens chrétiens entre 1140, avec la rédaction du Adversus judaeorum de Pierre le Vénérable, et 1248, la condamnation officielle par Eudes de Châteauroux. Avec la création des universités au XIIe siècle, la curiosité intellectuelle et la soif de savoir dirigent les théologiens chrétiens vers des textes non plus uniquement bibliques, mais aussi rabbiniques. Simultanément, la présence de l’Église et son orthodoxie doctrinale se renforcent, avec un désir encore plus fort d’encadrer ses fidèles. Le XIIIe siècle est l’époque d’une série de condamnations de thèses chrétiennes par l’Église pour prévenir la propagation d’erreurs dogmatiques. Avec Pierre le Vénérable, nous voyons pour la première fois un théologien chrétien s’attarder sur les textes talmudiques. Ce n’est véritablement qu’un siècle plus tard que le Talmud se fait connaître par les savants chrétiens, après que Nicolas Donin, juif converti au christianisme, informe Grégoire IX des erreurs blasphématoires à l’encontre de Dieu et du christianisme contenues dans ce livre. Une fois examiné, le Talmud est condamné 1240, puis solennellement en 1248 par l’autorité parisienne, soutenue par des enregistrements méticuleux, intitulés Extractiones de Talmut.
Scholars of Jewish history have paid consistent and devoted attention to the Barcelona Disputation of 1263. Records of this event preserve contemporary Jewish and Christian responses to the proceedings, which pitted Nahmanides, the most important exegete and teacher of the region, against a convert from Judaism to Christianity, took place in the royal court before an illustrious audience. This essay traces trends in scholarly treatments of the Barcelona Disputation from the early days of the Wissenschaft des Judentums to the present. By examining challenges of veracity posed by the documentary sources as well as foundational assumptions about what the medieval authors intended to achieve with their accounts, this article provides broad overview of the historiography that has developed around the Barcelona Disputation.
In the context of the launch of a new theater company whose mission is to bring entertaining theological content to audiences in and around Jerusalem, Roy Doliner’s Divine Right was chosen as the company’s first production. This play about the Disputation of Barcelona balances historical accuracy and creative dramatic content in a satisfying and intellectually honest portrayal of the events of the Disputation for educated lay audiences. Many theological and dramaturgical issues arise, especially in producing a play with a high level of Christian content and theology for mainly Orthodox or at least traditionally educated Jewish audiences. English speaking audience members in Jerusalem tend to be well-informed, both on the historical level and on the level of Jewish law and mores. This makes them exacting viewers, critical of inaccuracies of history or interpretation, wary of challenging positions but mostly willing to learn, and delighted by thorough research and characterization. This paper examines the technical, dramaturgical, and theological issues that arose during this production for the playwright, director, actors, and audiences.
The case study presented in this article is an analysis of Portuguese literary manuscripts which deal with religious Jewish controversies during the Middle Ages (13th to the 15th centuries). These documents came down to us through the subsequent centuries and are available in the Libraries of Portugal. The article is intended to make known variegated documents of religious controversies over three centuries, while, at the same time, we shall draft a brief presentation of their authors, except for anonymous works. In the second part, we shall proceed with a definition of this particlar literary genre as well as analyze the characteristics and also the common features of the different works. In the end, we shall investigaate the discourses, motivations, and the different authors who have influenced the writing of these medieval controversies.
This paper examines the astrological and religious thinking of Moshe ben Nahman (also known as Ramban or Nahmanides) and the intellectual connections in this field with two of the most outstanding Christian thinkers of his time, Ramon Llull and Arnau de Vilanova. Nahmanides, like many medieval scholars, admitted an astral influence, but he did not accept astrology as a divinatory science. He incorporated astrological doctrines in his exegetical works, assuming that Israel is not determined by any star because it only responds to God. Yet the study of medieval medicine and its application cannot be separated from astrology practice because it was considered that the stars had a direct influence not only on the development of the human body, from birth to death, but also in the disease processes which affect it. Ramban and his disciple Solomon ben Adret accepted and practiced astrological medicine. Llull and de Vilanova also devoted themselves to this discipline. All of them agree on the influence of the stars on humankind but condemned astral magic. Like Ramban, Llull rejects other astrological methods considered non-scientific in his time, such as prediction through horoscope. Thus, these thinkers tried to develop an astrology that was not in contradiction with divine omnipotence or free will.
Published Online: 10 Aug 2020 Page range: 97 - 119
Abstract
Abstract
The Disputation or Cathechesis of Tortosa with its sixty-nine sessions (February 7, 1413-November 12, 1413) was the longest of the Jewish Christian encounters in the Middle Age. Stirred by the Avignonesian Pope Benedict XIII, Geronimo de Sancta Fide, olim Yehoshua ha-Lorki, summoned a group of Catalan and Aragonese rabbis to inform them that the Messiah was already came. Not only the Papal notaries recorded the excruciating debates, but also two Hebrew sources: the anonymous and fragmentary letter published by Halberstam in 1868 and the chapter 40 of the Shebet Yehuda. They encompass the first nine sessions carried out orally, before the Pope requested for written texts to be debated lately. Since these sources disagree on many details, this paper aims at examining them anew. That examination has shown that the anonymous account is more accurate than the fictional report of the Shebet Yehuda as far as the internal chronology of the sessions, the speeches of the Jewish delegates and their identities are concerned. The internal evidence leads us to subscribe with Riera i Sans in ascribing its authorship to Bonastruc Desmestre from Girona, who was at Tortosa on request of the Pope. He probably knew other Jewish chronicle and added some new materials from the Vikkuach Ramban, Salomon Ibn Verga, the author of Shebet Yehuda, built upon this chronicle and created a fictional account around Vidal Benveniste or the ‘ideal’ portrait of the Pope and added some materials from the Latin Protocols or from unknown Jewish sources.
Cet article met en lumière la réception du Talmud parmi les érudits parisiens chrétiens entre 1140, avec la rédaction du Adversus judaeorum de Pierre le Vénérable, et 1248, la condamnation officielle par Eudes de Châteauroux. Avec la création des universités au XIIe siècle, la curiosité intellectuelle et la soif de savoir dirigent les théologiens chrétiens vers des textes non plus uniquement bibliques, mais aussi rabbiniques. Simultanément, la présence de l’Église et son orthodoxie doctrinale se renforcent, avec un désir encore plus fort d’encadrer ses fidèles. Le XIIIe siècle est l’époque d’une série de condamnations de thèses chrétiennes par l’Église pour prévenir la propagation d’erreurs dogmatiques. Avec Pierre le Vénérable, nous voyons pour la première fois un théologien chrétien s’attarder sur les textes talmudiques. Ce n’est véritablement qu’un siècle plus tard que le Talmud se fait connaître par les savants chrétiens, après que Nicolas Donin, juif converti au christianisme, informe Grégoire IX des erreurs blasphématoires à l’encontre de Dieu et du christianisme contenues dans ce livre. Une fois examiné, le Talmud est condamné 1240, puis solennellement en 1248 par l’autorité parisienne, soutenue par des enregistrements méticuleux, intitulés Extractiones de Talmut.
Scholars of Jewish history have paid consistent and devoted attention to the Barcelona Disputation of 1263. Records of this event preserve contemporary Jewish and Christian responses to the proceedings, which pitted Nahmanides, the most important exegete and teacher of the region, against a convert from Judaism to Christianity, took place in the royal court before an illustrious audience. This essay traces trends in scholarly treatments of the Barcelona Disputation from the early days of the Wissenschaft des Judentums to the present. By examining challenges of veracity posed by the documentary sources as well as foundational assumptions about what the medieval authors intended to achieve with their accounts, this article provides broad overview of the historiography that has developed around the Barcelona Disputation.
In the context of the launch of a new theater company whose mission is to bring entertaining theological content to audiences in and around Jerusalem, Roy Doliner’s Divine Right was chosen as the company’s first production. This play about the Disputation of Barcelona balances historical accuracy and creative dramatic content in a satisfying and intellectually honest portrayal of the events of the Disputation for educated lay audiences. Many theological and dramaturgical issues arise, especially in producing a play with a high level of Christian content and theology for mainly Orthodox or at least traditionally educated Jewish audiences. English speaking audience members in Jerusalem tend to be well-informed, both on the historical level and on the level of Jewish law and mores. This makes them exacting viewers, critical of inaccuracies of history or interpretation, wary of challenging positions but mostly willing to learn, and delighted by thorough research and characterization. This paper examines the technical, dramaturgical, and theological issues that arose during this production for the playwright, director, actors, and audiences.
The case study presented in this article is an analysis of Portuguese literary manuscripts which deal with religious Jewish controversies during the Middle Ages (13th to the 15th centuries). These documents came down to us through the subsequent centuries and are available in the Libraries of Portugal. The article is intended to make known variegated documents of religious controversies over three centuries, while, at the same time, we shall draft a brief presentation of their authors, except for anonymous works. In the second part, we shall proceed with a definition of this particlar literary genre as well as analyze the characteristics and also the common features of the different works. In the end, we shall investigaate the discourses, motivations, and the different authors who have influenced the writing of these medieval controversies.
This paper examines the astrological and religious thinking of Moshe ben Nahman (also known as Ramban or Nahmanides) and the intellectual connections in this field with two of the most outstanding Christian thinkers of his time, Ramon Llull and Arnau de Vilanova. Nahmanides, like many medieval scholars, admitted an astral influence, but he did not accept astrology as a divinatory science. He incorporated astrological doctrines in his exegetical works, assuming that Israel is not determined by any star because it only responds to God. Yet the study of medieval medicine and its application cannot be separated from astrology practice because it was considered that the stars had a direct influence not only on the development of the human body, from birth to death, but also in the disease processes which affect it. Ramban and his disciple Solomon ben Adret accepted and practiced astrological medicine. Llull and de Vilanova also devoted themselves to this discipline. All of them agree on the influence of the stars on humankind but condemned astral magic. Like Ramban, Llull rejects other astrological methods considered non-scientific in his time, such as prediction through horoscope. Thus, these thinkers tried to develop an astrology that was not in contradiction with divine omnipotence or free will.
The Disputation or Cathechesis of Tortosa with its sixty-nine sessions (February 7, 1413-November 12, 1413) was the longest of the Jewish Christian encounters in the Middle Age. Stirred by the Avignonesian Pope Benedict XIII, Geronimo de Sancta Fide, olim Yehoshua ha-Lorki, summoned a group of Catalan and Aragonese rabbis to inform them that the Messiah was already came. Not only the Papal notaries recorded the excruciating debates, but also two Hebrew sources: the anonymous and fragmentary letter published by Halberstam in 1868 and the chapter 40 of the Shebet Yehuda. They encompass the first nine sessions carried out orally, before the Pope requested for written texts to be debated lately. Since these sources disagree on many details, this paper aims at examining them anew. That examination has shown that the anonymous account is more accurate than the fictional report of the Shebet Yehuda as far as the internal chronology of the sessions, the speeches of the Jewish delegates and their identities are concerned. The internal evidence leads us to subscribe with Riera i Sans in ascribing its authorship to Bonastruc Desmestre from Girona, who was at Tortosa on request of the Pope. He probably knew other Jewish chronicle and added some new materials from the Vikkuach Ramban, Salomon Ibn Verga, the author of Shebet Yehuda, built upon this chronicle and created a fictional account around Vidal Benveniste or the ‘ideal’ portrait of the Pope and added some materials from the Latin Protocols or from unknown Jewish sources.