Yahudi Düşünür Profiat Duran’ın İsa’nın Ulûhiyetine Dair Eleştirileri/Jewish Thinker Profiat Duran’s Criticism for the Divinity of Jesus

Abstract

As well as the works written by the parties about themselves, the apologies and polemics they wrote against each other are important in understanding the history of Jewish-Christian relations. In the late fourteenth century, when the Jewish-Christian relations were going through a difficult process, the Jewish philosopher Profiat Duran wrote a refutation of Christian doctrines in Spain. The refusal, Kelimmat ha-Goyim (The Shame of the Gentiles), addresses not only detailed objections against the deity of Jesus, but also various issues such as the claim of virginity of Mary, baptism, Eucharist, the position of the Pope, and mistakes in Bible translations. This article, which discusses Duran's critiques of Jesus' deity, consists of two main parts. The first part of the article deals with the issue that how Duran criticized the proofs that Christians brought from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament to prove the divinity of Jesus. Besides, it examines Jesus’ miracles in the context of his deity, and Jewish discussions of how Jesus could do extraordinary things. The second part of the article scrutinizes the evidence that Duran put forward to prove why Jesus cannot be God. The article also suggests that Profiat Duran, who was forced to enter Christianity, secretly maintained Jewish faith.

Keywords

• medieval spain
• kelimmat ha-goyim
• polemics
• profiat duran
• converso
• marrano
• jewish-christian relations