Christian Humanism through Hebrew scholarship: Religious analytic texts by Ainsworth and Erasmus

Above:

Desiderius Erasmus's Aliquot epistolae sane [quam] elegantes Erasmi Roterodami

Below:

Example of Hebrew type. Image courtesy of Leora Bromberg and Massey College.

Historical Context 

The Hebrew Language

     Since the creation of Biblical Hebrew, the language was strictly studied and practiced within a religious context. For several centuries, Hebrew was read and reviewed by the Jewish people in synagogues when it was used for the teachings of the Hebrew Bible.  However, following the spread of the humanist movement, and Erasmus’s encouragement to study Hebrew in order to read the original text of the Old Testament, Christian scholars began seeking Hebrew texts to learn the language.

     At the time of the spread of Christian Hebraism, Hebrew was considered to be a relatively dead language, as it was only being used in a religious context and was not spoken outside of any religious institutions. Although there were other languages that contained elements of Hebrew that were used as the vernacular language in some parts of Europe, Hebrew as a language was strictly a holy language.  

     The other adapted languages that used the Hebrew alphabet such as Yiddish, developed by the Jewish diaspora in Central and Eastern Europe, and Ladino, spoken among the Spanish Jews, utilized the alphabet differently than Biblical Hebrew. In traditional Biblical Hebrew, the script found throughout the Hebrew Bible, the language does not have written vowels. Rather, the text has various symbols placed above and below the letters, indicating the vowel sounds - these symbols are called nikud. Therefore, when printers started to print Biblical Hebrew, the printing technology had to be adapted to include moveable type for not only the letters of the language, but also the nikud.

Christian Humanism through Print

     The Hebrew printing process that included nikud was created by Italian printer Giuliano Tamani. The process he developed involved setting the consonant letters, and then placing unique type that would bear the vowel symbols directly above or below the consonant before they were printed together.

     As the humanist ideals spread out of Italy and into Northern Europe, many began to adapt the humanist idea of reading classical sources to find the truth to Christian sources. The northern European scholar that began the idea of referencing the original texts of the Bible was Desiderius Erasmus. According to Erasmus, going back to the classical scriptures and studying their rhetoric would allow Christians to find the true meaning of the Bible and understand the philosophy of Christ. Following the precedent set by Erasmus, Christian humanism developed in Northern Europe and created an increased interest in applying humanist methods to the ancient Christian scriptures in order to find new meanings from the original rhetoric and phraseology.

Bookplate of the Erasmus text. Biblical passage translated into Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. The phrase translates to "Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts."

New Understanding of the Old Testament through Hebrew Scholarship

     Through assessing the use of Hebrew in these analytical religious texts, one is able to better understand the role the ancient language played in early modern Christian humanism. Following the lead of Erasmus in the Christian humanist movement in the north, many humanists learned the three biblical languages. For Christian humanists, studying Hebrew was just as important as studying Greek and Latin which was used in the original sources of the New Testament.

     The importance of the three languages was emphasized in a biblical quote that was translated into the biblical languages in Aliquot epistolae sane [quam] elegantes Erasmi Roterodami. When one translates the phrase, although they are all supposed to be exactly the same, they all embody a different meaning depending on the context of the individual language. The idea of mistranslation was a very important issue that Erasmus pointed out when he began looking at the original texts of the Bible. To humanists, rhetoric and how one presents their ideas is very important. Therefore, how ideas were worded in these ancient Biblical texts was crucial for Christian humanist understanding of the scriptures.

Above:

Henry Ainsworth’s Annotations upon the Second Book of Moses, called Exodus

Left:

Hebrew acronym for the 10 plagues placed upon Egypt in the story of the Exodus.

     Following Erasmus’s lead, humanists began putting Hebrew into their own works to support their claims when assessing religious texts. This is evident in Henry Ainsworth’s Annotations upon the Second Book of Moses, called Exodus. Although the use of the classical language is very sparse, when the original Hebrew text was included, it was often to present an idea from the Old Testament that was either very difficult to translate or had a significant meaning when read in Hebrew.

For instance, in a passage of the Exodus that discusses the ten plagues placed upon   Egypt, there is an acronym in the Hebrew   Bible of the names of the plagues in order   (דצך עדש באחב). Since the words has a religious significance, but can not be translated, it is very important to be able to reference the original text. Being able to look at the original Hebrew, one is able to assess not only the 10 plagues, but how the plagues were grouped when they were placed in the acronyms. The ability to be able to read the Hebrew of the Old Testament allows Christian humanists to understand the true meaning of the religious text without any messages getting lost in translation. The idea of getting a full understanding of a text by referencing classical sources fully embodies the humanist ideas of the time.