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Johann Christoph Wagenseil (26 November 1633 - 9 October 1705) was a German historian, Orientalist, jurist and Christian Hebraist.
Wagenseil was born in Nuremberg on 26 November 1633. As a youth he was educated at Stockholm, Greifswald, and Rostock. In 1649 he entered the University of Altdorf. He traveled widely in Europe and became a member of numerous scholarly societies. In 1665 he received a doctorate of law at the University of Orleans. In 1667 he was made professor of history and civil law at Altdorf and then served professor of Oriental languages at the same university from 1674 to 1697. After 1667 he occupied the chair of ecclesiastical law until his death on 9 October 1705. Wagenseil twice served as deacon and rector at Altdorf and in 1699 he was named the university librarian. [1]
For his knowledge of Hebrew he was chiefly indebted to the Sabbatean Behr Perlhefter and Enoch Levi, who had come from Vienna to Fürth around 1670.
[N.B. While some of Wagenseil's later studies may have occurred with "the Sabbatean Behr Perlhefter and Enoch Levi, when they came from Vienna to Fürth around 1670" as mentioned in the preceding passage, by this time Wagenseil already was an accomplished Hebrew/talmud scholar. Indeed, in "Die Letzte Vertreibung der Juden aus Wien und Niederösterreich" Kaufmann expands on the subject of how Wagenseil, while still aged in his early 20s stayed for extended periods in the Vienna Jewish community where in particular he befriended and studied under Dr. Jehuda Löb Winkler as well as Rabbi Model Oettingen, thereafter maintaining correspondence with both of them from all the locations and university cities where he later resided as preceptor of the Kaiser's sons, as well as throughout ensuing years.] [2]
Wagenseil devoted his learning to publishing anti-Christian works of Jewish authors and undertook long journeys to gather his material and conduct research. He died in Altdorf in 1705.
The fruit of Wagenseil's travels was the collection Tela Ignea Satanæ, sive Arcani et Horribiles Judæorum Adversus Christum, Deum, et Christianam Religionem Libri (Altdorf, 1681), which included the apologetic Ḥizzuḳ Emunah of the Karaite Isaac Troki.
Becoming convinced by the Toledot Yeshu that the Jews were guilty of blaspheming Jesus, Wagenseil addressed to all high potentates his Denunciatio Christiana de Blasphemiis Judæorum in Jesum Christum (Altdorf, 1703), in which he implored them to restrain the Jews from mocking Jesus, Mary, the cross, the mass, and Christian teachings. He was opposed to forcible baptism and similar conversion measures, and devoted a treatise to the refutation of the charge of ritual murder.
Wagenseil wrote, besides the above-mentioned books, Hoffnung der Erlösung Israels (Leipzig, 1705), which appeared in a second edition (Altdorf, 1707), augmented by a number of smaller works under the general title Benachrichtigungen Wegen Einiger die Gemeine Jüdischheit Betreffenden Sachen. This collection contains the following treatises:
He also wrote:
as well as an edition and Latin translation of the Talmudic treatise Sotah (Altdorf, 1674).
He was also the earliest researcher of the German Meistersinger tradition. His Latin history of Nuremberg De civitate noribergensi commentatio (Altdorf, 1697) included the German appendix Buch von der Meister-Singer holdseligen Kunst Anfang, Fortübung, Nutzbarkeiten, und Lehrsätzen (dated 1680), which discussed the origin of the guild, their Tabulaturen and customs. It also includes music examples by Müglin, Heinrich Frauenlob, Der Marner and Barthel Regenbogen . Though its accuracy has been doubted since the time of its publication, it remains an important account and formed the basis of accounts by Jean Paul and E. T. A. Hoffmann, as well as Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg . [3]
Bar form is a musical form of the pattern AAB.
Johannes Pfefferkorn was a German Catholic theologian and writer who converted from Judaism. Pfefferkorn actively preached against the Jews and attempted to destroy copies of the Talmud, and engaged in a long running pamphleteering battle with humanist Johann Reuchlin.
Austerlitz is the name of a Jewish family. As is the case with all names derived from places, the surname "Austerlitz" does not necessarily signify that all the persons so named belong to one family. The name originated in Austerlitz (Slavkov), Moravia.
Johann David Köhler was a German historian. His academic focuses were on Roman coins as historical artifacts, ancient weapons, and genealogy. Köhler also served as university librarian at Altdorf and contributed to the early library science literature.
Johann Peter Spaeth, also known as Moses Germanus or Moses Ashkenazi was an Austrian theologian that converted to Judaism.
Raymond Martini, also called Ramon Martí in Catalan, was a 13th-century Dominican friar and theologian. He is remembered for his polemic work Pugio Fidei. In 1250 he was one of eight friars appointed to make a study of oriental languages with the purpose of carrying on a mission to Jews and Moors. He worked in Spain as a missionary, and also for a short time in Tunis. A document bearing his signature and dated July 1284 shows that he was at that time still living.
Anton Margaritha was a sixteenth-century Jewish Hebraist and convert to Christianity. He was a possible source for some of Martin Luther's conception of Judaism.
A Christian Hebraist is a scholar of Hebrew who comes from a Christian family background/belief or is a Jewish adherent of Christianity. The main area of study is that commonly known as the Old Testament to Christians, but Christians have occasionally taken an interest in the Talmud and the Kabbalah.
Johan Kemper (1670–1716), formerly Moshe ben Aharon Ha-Kohen of Kraków or Moses Aaron, baptized Johann Christian Jacob; was a Polish Sabbatean Jew who converted from Judaism to Lutheran Christianity. His conversion was motivated by his studies in Kabbalah and his disappointment following the failure of a prophecy spread by the Polish Sabbatean prophet Zadok of Grodno, which predicted that Sabbatai Zevi would return in the year 1695/6, It is unclear whether he continued to observe Jewish practices after his conversion.
David Caspari was a German Lutheran theologian. He was the father of Georg Caspari.
Behr Shmuel Issachar Leyb ben Judah Moses Eybeschuetz Perlhefter was a Jewish scholar and rabbi. His educated wife Bella bat R. Jakob Perlhefter, corresponded in Hebrew and wrote the preface on the Yiddish book “Beer Sheva”. Perlhefter taught the German Christian Hebraist Johann Christoph Wagenseil Hebrew and Jewish literature. Beer Perlhefter is considered an important figure of the Sabbatian movement. After the death of the pseudo-Messiah Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676), he restored the Sabbatian theology at the school of Abraham Rovigo and called the Pseudomessiah Mordecai Mokiach to Italy.
The history of the Jews in Regensburg, Germany reaches back over 1,000 years. The Jews of Regensburg are part of Bavarian Jewry; Regensburg was the capital of the Upper Palatinate and formerly a free city of the German empire. The great age of the Jewish community in this city is indicated by the tradition that a Jewish colony existed there before the common era; it is undoubtedly the oldest Jewish settlement in Bavaria of which any records exist.
Christian Wilhelm Franz Walch was a protestant German theologian and professor of theology from Göttingen. He authored numerous books.
As Thomaskantor, Johann Sebastian Bach provided Passion music for Good Friday services in Leipzig. The extant St Matthew Passion and St John Passion are Passion oratorios composed by Bach.
Rudolph Bernhard, originally rabbi Jacob Levi of Prague, was a Christian writer. He was baptised at Berne in 1694. In 1705 he published the proselytizing letter Sendschreiben: Geschrieben an die so genannten Juden. When he died he left a manuscript translation in Hebrew of Matthew, Mark, and Luke up to chapter 16:31.
Rudolf Martin Meelführer (1670–1729) was a German Hebraist. He was a student of Wagenseil at the University of Altdorf, and followed his teacher in study of the depiction of Christianity in the Talmud. He taught at Altdorf and then was adjunct in philosophy at Wittenberg.
Bella bat Jakob Perlhefter was a professional Hebrew letter writer, businesswoman and instructor of music. She corresponded with her husband Behr Perlhefter and with the Christian polymath Johann Christoph Wagenseil in Hebrew. She wrote the preface of the Yiddish book “Beer Sheva”.
Friedemann Bechmann was a German Lutheran theologian.
Johann Ernst Gerhard was a German Lutheran theologian. There are suggestions, however, that his greater scholarly passion lay in Oriental studies.
Bella Ḥazzan, née Horwitz, was an 18th-century Bohemian Yiddish writer.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Wagenseil, Johann Christoph". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.| International | |
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