The reception of Judaism by Christian theology as reflected by the Judaic collection of the Gustaf Dalman Institute
The Judaic Collection of the Gustaf Dalman Institute at the Theological Faculty of the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald with its over 1000 works (including 51 from the 16th century, 49 from the 17th century, 81 from the 18th century; altogether 30 first editions) is not the product of chance. It documents a particular direction of research and owes its existence to the labours of Gustav Herman Dalman (1855-1941). Dalman was above all the pre-eminent representative of a position and a stage in the long and by no means completed process of the Christian apperception and reception of Judaism. This is reflected in his own works as well as in the Judaic library built up by him.
The foundation of the Judaic collection was laid back in the days of the Kaiser. It documents and accentuates Dalman's contribution to the fight against increasing antisemitism. The First World War found Dalman in the middle of building up the Palestine Institute in Jerusalem, work that was slowly coming to fruition. The at first temporary and then permanent professorship in Greifswald (from 1917) made him the focal point of a circle of colleagues and pupils who were inspired by him in both Jewish and Palestinian Studies. Apart from occasional criticism, Jews also accorded him great respect, as is shown by the article "Dalman" in the celebrated Encyclopaedia Judaica, a work never completed because of the situation in Germany (vol. 5, Berlin 1930). Greifswald stands for a whole direction of research.
Dalman's Judaic library, flanked by the research of Paul Billebeck, whose literary estate is also in the Gustaf Dalman Institute at the Theological Faculty of the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, is a unique example allowing motives and methods of Christian studies of Judaism to be identified, analysed and evaluated in terms of theology, cultural sociology and sociology of knowledge.
- Gustaf Hermann Dalman
The Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg's project comprises two parts with reference to Dalman's Judaic library and Paul Billerbeck's literary estate, respectively. One part of the project, being carried out with the help of a doctoral grant from the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, is devoted to the Role of censorship in the process of Christian apperception of Judaism, on the basis of from the Christian censors' comments in Jewish printed works in the collection of the Gustaf Dalman Institute.
Several of the more important works in the Judaic collection of the Gustaf Dalman Institute show traces of censorship, in some cases massive. The way Christians dealt with Jewish manuscripts and then above all the censorship of printed works was the dark side of the Christian apperception of Judaism. After the burning of the Talmud in Paris in 1240, it can be dated from the disputation in Barcelona on the 20th, 27th, 30th, and 31st July 1263, which on the one hand triggered a series of censorship measure in the Jewish communities, to begin with in Catalonia, and on the other hand led to the opus magnum of Christian reception of Judaism which set the tone for centuries, the "Pugio fidei" ("dagger of faith") of Ramón Martí (Raimundus Martini, c. 1220 to c.1285). The incipient scholarly interest of Christians in Judaism and its literature in the early modern age was subjected to a tough test in the polemics by and against Reuchlin concerning the burning of Jewish books (1510 to 1520). The situation was exacerbated once again by the publication of the Index auctorum et librorum prohibitorum by Pope Paul IV in 1559, renewed by Sixtus V in 1589. The Talmud, which was printed for the first time in Italy - the first editions are in the Dalman Institute - was no longer allowed to be published there. The alternative enterprise in Basel was only possible due to very sensitive cooperation between the printer Froben and the censor Marini, just as all over Europe nay Hebrew works could be printed under the supervision of censors. Jewish or Christian scholars who exercised this office, for instance at the behest of the universities and occasionally of the deans of their faculties, were certainly among the best connoisseurs of Judaism and its rich literature. Sometimes, as in the case of Johannes Buxtorf in Basel, they became the most important promoters of this knowledge.
The entries in the volumes of Dalman's Judaic collection appear to originate from the Italian Church censorship, which was pre-eminent in Europe at that time. The project is carrying out the first step towards checking this hypothesis. Scholarly work on the censors' comments and their background also offers a unique insight into the backstairs history of European culture. In the light of the act "for the protection of the nation and the state" signed by von Hindenburg on 28th February 1933 and the burning of books on 10th May 1933, which expressly targeted Jewish literature, this investigation has a dimension of continuing political responsibility.
Projekt director: Prof. Dr. Thomas Willi (Ernst Moritz Arndt University)
Duration: 2006 to 2009
Project events:
15. und 16. Februar 2007
Interdisziplinary Symposium "Zwischen Zensur und Selbstbesinnung - Christliche Wahrnehmungsweisen des Judentums"
Several of the more important works in the Judaic collection of the Gustaf Dalman Institute show traces of censorship, in some cases massive. The way Christians dealt with Jewish manuscripts and then above all the censorship of printed works was the dark side of the Christian apperception of Judaism. After the burning of the Talmud in Paris in 1240, it can be dated from the disputation in Barcelona on the 20th, 27th, 30th, and 31st July 1263, which on the one hand triggered a series of censorship measure in the Jewish communities, to begin with in Catalonia, and on the other hand led to the opus magnum of Christian reception of Judaism which set the tone for centuries, the "Pugio fidei" ("dagger of faith") of Ramón Martí (Raimundus Martini, c. 1220 to c.1285). The incipient scholarly interest of Christians in Judaism and its literature in the early modern age was subjected to a tough test in the polemics by and against Reuchlin concerning the burning of Jewish books (1510 to 1520). The situation was exacerbated once again by the publication of the Index auctorum et librorum prohibitorum by Pope Paul IV in 1559, renewed by Sixtus V in 1589. The Talmud, which was printed for the first time in Italy - the first editions are in the Dalman Institute - was no longer allowed to be published there. The alternative enterprise in Basel was only possible due to very sensitive cooperation between the printer Froben and the censor Marini, just as all over Europe nay Hebrew works could be printed under the supervision of censors. Jewish or Christian scholars who exercised this office, for instance at the behest of the universities and occasionally of the deans of their faculties, were certainly among the best connoisseurs of Judaism and its rich literature. Sometimes, as in the case of Johannes Buxtorf in Basel, they became the most important promoters of this knowledge.
The entries in the volumes of Dalman's Judaic collection appear to originate from the Italian Church censorship, which was pre-eminent in Europe at that time. The project is carrying out the first step towards checking this hypothesis. Scholarly work on the censors' comments and their background also offers a unique insight into the backstairs history of European culture. In the light of the act "for the protection of the nation and the state" signed by von Hindenburg on 28th February 1933 and the burning of books on 10th May 1933, which expressly targeted Jewish literature, this investigation has a dimension of continuing political responsibility.
Projekt director: Prof. Dr. Thomas Willi (Ernst Moritz Arndt University)
Duration: 2006 to 2009
Project events:
15. und 16. Februar 2007
Interdisziplinary Symposium "Zwischen Zensur und Selbstbesinnung - Christliche Wahrnehmungsweisen des Judentums"
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