Jewishness as an Explanation for Rejection of the Word
The present essay challenges prior accounts of the “literary echo” to Martin Luther’s 1523 treatise, That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, which called for “friendly” theological instruction of Jews. Focusing on a dialogue between a Christian and a Jew written by Caspar Güttel, I demonstrate that Güttel...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Church history and religious culture
Year: 2015, Volume: 95, Issue: 2/3, Pages: 203-221 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Güthel, Caspar 1471-1542
/ Luther, Martin 1483-1546
/ Anti-judaism
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| RelBib Classification: | BH Judaism CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KBB German language area |
| Further subjects: | B
Reformation
early modern Christianity
anti-Judaism
Martin Luther
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The present essay challenges prior accounts of the “literary echo” to Martin Luther’s 1523 treatise, That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, which called for “friendly” theological instruction of Jews. Focusing on a dialogue between a Christian and a Jew written by Caspar Güttel, I demonstrate that Güttel was not concerned with the persuasion of Jews. Rather, writing in 1527, Güttel deployed his knowledge of the ineffectiveness of Luther’s missionary overture as part of a larger strategy casting intra-Christian resistance to the Word as “Jewish.” Moreover, the primary influence on Güttel was not That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, but Luther’s Christmas Postils. From the latter, Güttel received and propagated an image of Jews as “blind with seeing eyes”—as unable to deny truth yet paradoxically unreceptive to it. Güttel’s case underlines the necessity of looking beyond Luther’s “Jewish writings” to locate the transmission and reception of the reformer’s anti-Judaism. |
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| ISSN: | 1871-2428 |
| Contains: | In: Church history and religious culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/18712428-09502005 |