On The Development Of Christian Hebraism In Early Modern History

Christian Hebraism is a kind of religious academic research in early modern period in Europe that Christian scholars apply or transform useful Hebrew linguistic, scriptural and philosophical elements of Hebrew culture for religious purposes. Undoubtedly, this kind of research is also an important part of the history of relationship between Judaism and Christianity. To provide a comprehensive, systematic and deep knowledge of Christian Hebraism, this thesis tries to figure out the essence of it and explore its impact on Judaism and Christianity through the descriptions of its rise and development in Renaissance and Reformation period, as well as the different responses of Jewish scholars to Christian Hebraism.This thesis will be divided into eight parts including introduction, six chapters and conclusion.Introduction mainly explains the basis and reason of the term of "Christian Hebraism", discusses the background and significance of this topic, evaluate the research situation of Christian Hebraism at home and abroad, illustrates the writing purpose and main ideas of this thesis.The first chapter mainly elaborates the emergence and early developments of Christian Hebraism in the age of Italian Renaissance. The work will be done in these three parts in order:the causes of the rise of Christian Hebraism in Italian Renaissance period, the summary of its preliminary achievements of Hebraic study from Italian and Spanish humanistic scholars, and then analysis of the characteristics of Christian Hebraism in this period.The second chapter mainly discusses the succession and spread of Christian Hebraism by northern European humanistic scholars. According to region, the paper discusses the inheritance, spread and characteristics of Christian Hebraism by Netherlands and German humanists under the influence of Italian humanists。The third chapter mainly elaborates the confessionalization and extension of Christian Hebraism in Reformation period. The Reformation has provided dual powers for the development of Christian Hebraism, however, the process of Christian denominations has also led to the confessionalization of Christian Hebraism. This part illustrates the extension of the research content and transmission of Christian Hebraism through summarizing the size, type and communication channels of Christian Hebraic books in this period.The fourth chapter mainly expounds on the deepening of the research of Christian Hebraism in Reformation era. The paper illustrates that the contents of Hebraic study was promoted further in three main aspects:linguistic study of languages related to Hebrew Bible; Hebrew Bible study and the Catholic applications of the Kabbalah.The fifth chapter mainly explains the different responses of Jewish scholars to Christian Hebraism. Elias Levita and Leon Modena were selected as two representatives to elaborates their recognition or refutation to Christian Hebraism accordingly. It also analyzed reasons to these two very different attitudes through comparative study.The sixth chapter mainly elucidates the historical influences of Christian Hebraism. This paper tries to explore multiple levels of influences of Christian Hebraism to Christianity and Judaism respectively.The conclusion part summarizes and concludes the essence of Christian Hebraism, and points to its importance to understand the relationship between Judaism and Christianity in early modern period.