The Reformation transformed Christian Hebraism from the pursuit of a few into an academic discipline. This book explains that transformation by focusing on how authors, printers, booksellers, and censors created a public discussion of Hebrew and Jewish texts.

Eight different historical-theological studies are assembled here under the title Respect for the Jews. They focus primarily on positive Catholic attitudes toward Jews during the turbulent years of the first half of the sixteenth century. The number of authors and texts are relatively small, but need to be brought out into the open. For the first time, a speech in praise of the language of the Jews by the early ecumenist, Georg Witzel (1501-1573), is made available in English. Other Catholic Hebraists who are featured include Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), Matthaeus Adrianus (ca. 1470-1521), Robert Wakefield (died 1537), and Nicolaus Winmann (ca. 1500-1550). Their brilliant works are presented in front of the sinister backdrop of the vicious attacks against the Jews by the well-educated Catholic convert of Jewish descent, Johann Pfefferkorn (ca. 1469-1521), a self-appointed Catholic missionary to the Jews, and also against the background of the scandalous outbursts of the Grobian Reformer, Martin Luther (1483-1546). Volume 4 of the author's Collected Works fosters the idea that Jews and Christians are "study partners," rather than antagonists--as visualized in the new statue "Synagogue and Church in Our Time" (as shown on the cover).

If there was one person who could be said to light the touch-paper for the epochal transformation of European religion and culture that we now call the Reformation, it was Martin Luther. And Luther and his followers were to play a central role in the Protestant world that was to emerge from the Reformation process, both in Germany and the wider world. In all senses of the term, this religious pioneer was a huge figure in European history. Yet there is also the very uncomfortable but at the same time undeniable fact that he was an anti-semite. Written by one of the world's leading authorities on the Reformation, this is the vexed and sometimes shocking story of Martin Luther's increasingly vitriolic attitude towards the Jews over the course of his lifetime, set against the backdrop of a world in religious turmoil. A final chapter then reflects on the extent to which the legacy of Luther's anti-semitism was to taint the Lutheran church over the following centuries. Scheduled for publication on the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation's birth, in light of the subsequent course of German history it is a tale both sobering and ominous in equal measure.

The Reformers of the sixteenth century found theological significance in Old Testament narratives such as Ruth's response to her mother-in-law Naomi. In this volume of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, N. Scott Amos guides readers through a wealth of early modern commentary on the Old Testament books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

the Handbooks of the Bible and Its Reception (HBR) provide comprehensive introductions to individual topics in biblical reception history. They address a wide range of academic fields and interdisciplinary matters, including reception of the Bible in various contexts and historical periods; in diverse geographic areas; in particular cultural, social, and political contexts; and in relation to important biblical themes, topics, and figures.

This book explores the unique phenomenon of Christian engagement with Yiddish language and literature from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century. By exploring the motivations for Christian interest in Yiddish, and the differing ways in which Yiddish was discussed and treated in Christian texts, A Goy Who Speaks Yiddish addresses a wide array of issues, most notably Christian Hebraism, Protestant theology, early modern Yiddish culture, and the social and cultural history of language in early modern Europe. Elyada's analysis of a wide range of philological and theological works, as well as textbooks, dictionaries, ethnographical writings, and translations, demonstrates that Christian Yiddishism had implications beyond its purely linguistic and philological dimensions. Indeed, Christian texts on Yiddish reveal not only the ways in which Christians perceived and defined Jews and Judaism, but also, in a contrasting vein, how they viewed their own language, religion, and culture.

Exploring the nexus of music and religious education involves fundamental questions regarding music itself, its nature, its interpretation, and its importance in relation to both education and the religious practices into which it is integrated. This cross-disciplinary volume of essays offers the first comprehensive set of studies to examine the role of music in educational and religious reform and the underlying notions of music in early modern Europe. It elucidates the context and manner in which music served as a means of religious teaching and learning during that time, thereby identifying the religio-cultural and intellectual foundations of early modern European musical phenomena and their significance for exploring the interplay of music and religious education today.

This volume contains the collection of papers presented at the 11th International Congress on Calvin Research that took place in Zurich in 2014. While many colleagues of Calvin addressed him in their letters as 'Pastor Ecclesiae' (Pastor of the Church), this is also the position he held when he passed away, 450 years before the congress in Zurich took place. The first part of the book consists of the plenary papers. In the second part, the seminars held at the Congress are published, and the third part consists of a selection of short papers.

The first volume to consider how the context of early modern biblical interpretation shaped Shakespeare's plays.

The Protestant Reformers were transformed by their encounters with Scripture. Bringing together the reflections of church historians and theologians delivered at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, these essays consider historical, hermeneutical, theological, and practical issues regarding the Bible, revealing that the irrepressible Word of God continues to transform hearts and minds.