26.11.2009 | 18:00

Lutheran Theses on Jewish topics in Germany between the 17th and 18th centuries

Leopold-Zunz-Colloquium

Guido Bartolucci

Leopold-Zunz-Center zur Erforschung des europäischen Judentums
Franckesche Stiftungen, Haus 1 / Indienzimmer

Disputationes, discussed at the German Universities during the 17th and 18th century, are an underestimated field of research. The short tractates (at most 40 pages) were written by professors or students and discussed in the academic public. These sources give researchers a wonderful opportunity to analyze interests and topics in which the main cultural institutions of the German States were involved.
Guido Bartolucci will present the first steps of his research which centers on Jewish topics in disputations, contended at the Lutheran Universities in Germany in the early modern period. These short tractates concern different topics as the single analysis of the structure of the Hebrew Bible, philological discussion on Hebrew words or expressions, Christological interpretations of the prophets, aspects of the daily life of the Jewish communities as well as theological and philosophical problems of Jewish works. Because of the preliminary status of his research and the huge number of diputationes (at this moment Bartolucci has collected 250 titles), He will discuss, first of all, the main topics of these works, trying to identify common fields of interest. His attention will focus on a specific group of disputationes, proposing a possible interpretation.
Bartolucci received his Master’s of art degree in 1999 from the University of Bologna. In 2003, he received his PhD with the thesis “De republica Hebraeorum of Carlo Sigonio” (supervisors Prof. V. Marchetti and Prof. Dr. G. Veltri) in Religious Studies at the same University. He was a visiting fellow at the National Institute for Renaissance Studies in Florence. Currently, he holds a post-doc position at the History Dept. of the Univ. of Bologna. His publications focus on the Christian interest for Jewish tradition: He published a book on the “Hebrew Republic of Carlo Sigonio, and its political meaning” and articles on C. Sigonio’s influence on the European political thought.