Confessional Divides, Cross-Confessional Connections, and Jewish Responses: Menasseh ben Israel and Daniel Levi de Barrios on De auxiliis and Dordt | Amsterdam University Press Journals Online
2004
Volume 47, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1781-7838
  • E-ISSN: 1783-1792

Abstract

Abstract

Studies in the Jewish reception of Christian theological discussions beyond the proper field of polemics are rare and only in their beginnings. Until now, scholars have often argued that Portuguese Jews discussed Christian concepts of divine foreknowledge and human free will because they were either struggling with their own Christian past or sought to help their ‘New Jewish’ coreligionists to turn into reliable members of the Amsterdam Sephardic community. This article uses the example of the Catholic , and the Protestant fight over Predestination before and after the Synod of Dordt (1618-1619) to argue that Portuguese Jews such as Menasseh ben Israel and Daniel Levi de Barrios recognised the cross-confessional dimension of the Christian debates on divine grace; they used their Iberian background and knowledge to order and explain what they observed; and they displayed their position as outsiders to deconstruct religious boundaries, imagine alternative religious landscapes, and finally re-insert themselves into their newly created religious maps and orders. The argument is based on a close reading of one chapter of the last volume of Menasseh ben Israel’s (1651) as well as Daniel Levi de Barrios’s poem (1680).

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/SR2021.1.001.RAUS
2021-01-01
2024-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/17817838/47/1/SR2021.1.001.RAUS.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.5117/SR2021.1.001.RAUS&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Aichele, Alexander, and MatthiasKaufmann, eds. A Companion to Luis de Molina.Leiden: Brill, 2014.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Anfray, Jean-Pascal. “Molina and John Duns Scotus.” In A Companion to Luis de Molina, edited by AlexanderAichele and MatthiasKaufmann, 325–364. Leiden: Brill, 2014.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Arminius, James [Jacob]. Arminius Speaks: Essential Writings on Predestination, Free Will, and the Nature of God, edited by John D.Wagner. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2011.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Bac, J. Martin. Perfect Will Theology: Divine Agency in Reformed Scholasticism as against Suárez, Episcopius, Descartes, and Spinoza.Leiden: Brill, 2010.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Ballor, Jordan H., Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, eds. Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Ballor, Jordan H., Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma. “Introduction: Augustinian Soteriology in the Context of the ‘Congregatio De Auxiliis’ and the Synod of Dordt.” In Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Jordan H.Ballor, Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, 1–18. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Barrios, Daniel Levi [Miguel] de. Contra la Verdad no Hay Fuerça: Panegirico a los tres bienaventurados martires Abraham Athias, Ahacob Rodriguez Casares, y Raquel Nuñez Fernandez.Amsterdam, 1665.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Barrios, Miguel [Daniel Levi] de. Libre Alvedrío y Harmonia del Cuerpo por disposición del Alma.Brussels: David de Castro Tartas, 1680.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Beltrán, Miguel. “Judaísmo y Molinismo en el siglo XVII: Consideraciones teológicas en torno al problema del Libre Albedrío.” ’Ilu. Revista de Ciencias de las Religiones2 (1997): 7–15.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Ben-Sasson, Haim Hillel. The Reformation in Contemporary Jewish Eyes. Jerusalem: Ahva Press, 1970.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Bodian, Miriam. Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam.Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Boer, Harm den. “Marrano-Topographie: Die produktive Peripherie des Miguel de Barrios.” In Heimat – Identität – Mobilität in der zeitgenössischen jüdischen Literatur, edited by ChristinaOlszynski, JanSchröder, and Chris W.Wilpert, 17–30. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Bunge, Wiep van. Spinoza Past and Present: Essays on Spinoza, Spinozism, and Spinoza Scholarship.Leiden: Brill, 2012.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Cohen, Gerson D. “Esau as Symbol in Early Medieval Thought.” In Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, edited by AlexanderAltmann, 19–48. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Colberg, Shawn M. “Aquinas and the Grace of Auxilium.” Modern Theology32, no. 2 (2016): 187–210.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Coppenhagen, Jacob H.Menasseh ben Israel, Manuel Dias Soeiro, 1604-1657: A Bibliography.Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim, 1990.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Cossee, Eric H. “Arminius and Rome.” In Arminius, Arminianism, and Europe, edited by Th. Mariusvan Leeuwen, Keith D.Stanglin, and MarijkeTolsma, 73–85. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Craig, William Lane. The Problem of Divine Foreknowledge and Future Contingents from Aristotle to Suárez.Leiden: Brill, 1988.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. David, Abraham. “The Lutheran Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Jewish Historiography.” Jewish Studies Quarterly10, no. 2 (2003): 124–139.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Dekker, Eef. Rijker dan Midas: Vrijheid, genade en predestinatie in de theologie van Jacobus Arminius, 1559-1609. Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 1993.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Dekker, Eef. “Was Arminius a Molinist?” The Sixteenth Century Journal27, no. 2 (1996): 337–352.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. DeMeuse, Eric J. “‘The World Is Content with Words’: Jansenism between Thomism and Calvinism.” In Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Jordan H.Ballor, Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, 245–276. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Fisher, Benjamin E.Amsterdam’s People of the Book: Jewish Society and the Turn to Scripture in the Seventeenth Century. Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College Press, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Friedman, Jerome. “The Reformation in Alien Eyes: Jewish Perceptions of Christian Troubles.” The Sixteenth-Century Journal14 (1983): 23–40.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Gaetano, Matthew T. “Calvin against the Calvinists in Early Modern Thomism.” In Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Jordan H.Ballor, Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, 297–320. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Goudriaan, Aza, and Lieburg, Fred van, eds. Revisiting the Synod of Dordt (1618-1619).Leiden: Brill, 2010.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Goudriaan, Aza. “Defending Grace: References to Dominicans, Jesuits, and Jansenists in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Reformed Theology.” In Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Jordan H.Ballor, Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, 277–297. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Hackett, Conrad, and Brian J.Grim. “The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Major Religious Groups as of 2010.” https://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/.
  29. Hacohen, Malachi Haim. Jacob and Esau: Jewish European History between Nation and Empire.New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Hoenderdaal, G. J. “Arminius en Episcopius.” Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis60, no. 2 (1980): 203–235.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Ifrah, Lionel. L’Aigle d’Amsterdam: Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657).Paris: Honoré Champion, 2001.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Ifrah, Lionel. Sion et Albion: Juifs et puritains attendent le Messie.Paris: Honoré Champion, 2006.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Israel, Menasseh ben. De termino vitae libri III. Amsterdam: Menasseh ben Israel, 1639.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Israel, Menasseh ben. Dissertatio de fragilitate humana ex lapsu Adami.Amsterdam: Menasseh ben Israel, 1642.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Israel, Menasseh ben. De la fragilidad humana y inclinación del hombre al peccado.Amsterdam: Menasseh ben Israel, 1642.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Israel, Menasseh ben. The Bible Conciliator: A Reconcilement of the Apparent Contradictions in Holy Scripture, edited by Elias HayyimLindo, 2 vols. Glasgow: Oppenheim1902 [1842].
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Itterzon, Gerrit P. van. Franciscus Gomarus.Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1930.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Jansen, Cornelius. Augustinus seu doctrina Sancti Augustini de humanae naturae sanitate, aegritudine, medicina adversus Pelagianos et Massilienses. Leuven: Jacob Zegers, 1640.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Kaplan, Yosef, HenryMéchoulan, and Richard H.Popkin, eds. Menasseh ben Israel and his World.Leiden: Brill, 1989.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Kaplan, Yosef. “Wayward New Christians and Stubborn New Jews: The Shaping of a Jewish Identity.” Jewish History8, no. 1-2 (1994): 27–41.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Katz, David S.Philo-Semitism and the Readmission of the Jews to England.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. KlatzkinJacob, and ShimonGibson. “Augustine.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., vol. 2, edited by MichaelBerenbaum and FredSkolnik, 658–659. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2587501603/GVRL?u=potsdam&sid=GVRL&xid=385be099.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Kley, Dale K. van. The Religious Origins of the French Revolution: From Calvin to the Civil Constitution, 1560-1791. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Knebel, Sven K. “Scientia media: Ein diskursarchäologischer Leitfaden durch das 17. Jahrhundert.” Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte34 (1991): 262–294.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Kohler, Kaufmann, and IsaacBroydé. “Predestination.” In The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 10, edited by IsidoreSingeret. al., 181–182. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1901-1906. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12338-predestination.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Kooi, Christine. Calvinists and Catholics during Holland’s Golden Age: Heretics and Idolators.New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Leydekker, Melchior. De historia Jansenismi libri IV.Utrecht: Halma, 1695.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Lieberman, Julia Rebollo. El teatro alegórico de Miguel (Daniel Levi) de Barrios.Newark, DEL: Juan de la Cuesta, 1996.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Litovsky, Haydee. Sephardic Playwrights of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in Amsterdam.Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. McDonald, W. “Congruism.” In The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1913. https://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia/c/congruism.html.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Méchoulan, Henry. “Introducción.” In Hispanidad y judaismo en tiempos de Espinoza: Estudio y edición anotada de “La certeza del camino” de Abraham Pereyra, edited by HenryMéchoulan, 1–94. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 1987.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Méchoulan, Henry. “Introduction: La permanence d’une problématique.” In Menasseh ben Israel. De la fragilité humaine et inclination de l’homme au péché, edited by HenryMéchoulan, 7–71. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1996.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Milton, Anthony. “Introduction.” In The British Delegation at the Synod of Dordt, 1618-1619, edited by AnthonyMilton, xvii–lv. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Muller, Richard. God, Creation, and Providence in the Thought of Jacobus Arminius.Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Muller, Richard A. “Arminius’s ‘Conference’ with Junius and the Protestant Reception of Molina’s ‘Concordia’.” In Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Jordan H.Ballor, Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, 103–126. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Mulsow, Martin, and JanRohls, eds. Socinianism and Arminianism: Antitrinitarians, Calvinists and Cultural Exchange in Seventeenth-Century Europe.Leiden: Brill, 2005.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Nadler, Steven. Menasseh ben Israel: Rabbi of Amsterdam.New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Ogliari, Donato. Gratia et Certamen: The Relationship between Grace and Free Will in the Discussion of Augustine with the So-Called Semipelagians.Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2003.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Parker, Charles H.Faith on the Margins: Catholics and Catholicism in the Dutch Golden Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Pereyra, Abraham. Espejo de la Vanidad del Mundo.Amsterdam: Alexandro Janse, 1671.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Pereyra, Abraham. Hispanidad y judaismo en tiempos de Espinoza: Estudio y edición anotada de “La certeza del camino” de Abraham Pereyra, edited by HenryMéchoulan. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 1987.
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Pieterse, Wilhelmina C.Daniel Levi de Barrios als geschiedschrijver van de Portugees-Israelitische Gemeente te Amsterdam in zijn ‘Triumpho del govierno popular’.Amsterdam: Scheltema, 1968.
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Raith, Charles II. “Calvin and Aquinas Reconsidered.” In Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Jordan H.Ballor, Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, 19–34. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Rauschenbach, Sina. “Gemeinsame Gegner: Zur integrativen Wirkung von Polemik in christlichen Kontroversen der Frühen Neuzeit.” In Religion als Prozess: Begriffe – Zuschreibungen – Leitmotive – Grenzen, edited by ThomasKirsch, RudolfSchlögl, and DorotheaWeltecke, 159–171. Paderborn: Schöningh, 2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Rauschenbach, Sina. Judaism for Christians: Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657).Lanham: Lexington, 2019 [2012].
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Remonstrantie 1610.https://www.remonstranten.nl/wiki/remonstranten-vroeger/remonstrantie-1610/.
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Riel, Cornelius Gerardus van. Beitrag zur Geschichte der Congregationes de Auxiliis.Konstanz: Stadler Verlag, 1921.
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Ruhstorfer, Karlheinz. “Der Gnadenstreit ‘de auxiliis’ im Kontext.” In Der Jansenismus – eine ‘katholische Häresie’? Das Ringen um Gnade, Rechtfertigung und die Autorität Augustins in der frühen Neuzeit, edited by DominikBurkard and TanjaThanner, 57–69. Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2014.
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Scholberg, Kenneth R., ed. La poesia religiosa de Miguel de Barrios.Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1962.
    [Google Scholar]
  70. Scholberg, Kenneth R., and YomTov Assis. “Barrios, Daniel Levi (Miguel) de.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., vol. 3, edited by MichaelBerenbaum and FredSkolnik, 176–177. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2587502087/GVRL?u=potsdam&sid=GVRL&xid=2710d40e.
    [Google Scholar]
  71. Stanglin, Keith D. “Arminius and Arminianism: An Overview of Current Research.” In Arminius, Arminianism, and Europe: Jacobus Arminius (1559/60-1609), edited by Th. Marius vanLeeuwen, Keith D.Stanglin, and MarijkeTolsma, 3–24. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
    [Google Scholar]
  72. Stanglin, Keith D., and Thomas H.McCall. Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
    [Google Scholar]
  73. Stanglin, Keith D. “‘Scientia Media’: the Protestant Reception of a Jesuit Idea.” In Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Jordan H.Ballor, Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, 148–168. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Sutcliffe, Adam. “The Conservative Hybridity of Miguel de Barrios.” In Jewish Culture in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honor of David B. Ruderman, edited by Richard I.Cohen, Natalie B.Dohrmann, AdamShear, and ElchananReiner, 205–215. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014.
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Sytsma, David S. “Aquinas in Service of Dordt: John Davenant on Predestination, Grace, and Free Choice.” In Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’: The Dynamics of Protestant and Catholic Soteriology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by Jordan H.Ballor, Matthew T.Gaetano, and David S.Sytsma, 149–199. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  76. Tyacke, Nicholas. Anti-Calvinists: The Rise of English Arminianism, 1590-1640.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.5117/SR2021.1.001.RAUS
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error