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Hebraica Veritas? An Exhibition From The Collection Of The Center For Judaic Studies Library, Stephen G. Burnett, Seth Jerchower

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Christian Hebraism was an offshoot of Renaissance humanism whose devotees—biblical scholars, theologians, lawyers, physicians, scientists, philosophers, and teachers in Latin schools—borrowed and adapted texts, literary forms, and ideas from Jewish scholarship and tradition to meet Christian cultural and religious needs. Intellectual and cultural exchange did occur between Jew and Christian during the Middle Ages, but paled by comparison with what occurred between 1450 and 1750. Encounters between cultures can be fruitful, but also very painful. Certainly Christian Hebraism had such effects both upon European Jewry, and upon western tradition. One of the most tangible witnesses to the sudden and sustained …