The Hidden Jesus : The Nazarene in the Jewish Polemical Literature: The Case of the 16-Century Text of Sefer Ḥizzuq Emunah

Abstract

This article traces the figure of Jesus that was hidden through the polemical and apologetic strategy of the text known as Sefer Ḥizzuq Emunah (Strengthening of the Faith), composed at the end of the 16th century by Lithuanian Karaite scholar Isaac ben Abraham Troki (c. 1533–1594). Despite belonging to a Karaite group, Isaac ben Abraham often used rabbinic quotations and Jewish classical commentators. His material was therefore intelligible to the wider Jewish community and it was also accessible to non-Jews and Marranos. Indeed, this text was translated into Spanish, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Latin by the end of 17th century. Sefer Ḥizzuq Emunah was a privileged example of what Christians knew about Jewish anti-Christian literature and was read by significant European intellectuals and philosophers. This text circulated widely among European thinkers, becoming an important source of anti-Christian ideas among non-Jewish intellectuals. The influence of Sefer Ḥizzuq Emunah demonstrates how closely the Jewish and Christian worlds interacted and connected during the early modern period.

Keywords

• isaac ben abraham trok
• sefer ḥizzuq emunah
• jewish polemical literature
• quest for the historical jesus
• anti-christian work