Johann Andreas Eisenmenger

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Entdecktes Judenthum was critical of "rabbinic Judaism", but not anti-Jewish per se or even a "Jew-hater", as is sometimes rumored. It was also critical of the Roman-Catholic Church. Friedrich Niewöhner writes 1988 about Eisenmenger's work:

"It was not read, but only exploited."

Eisenmenger was an intellectual who was particularly well trained in linguistics and therefore had outstanding knowledge of Jewish literature. Eisenmenger translated Jewish writings almost without errors and interpreted very tendentiously. The Israeli historian and philosopher Jacob Katz writes 1990:

"Eisenmenger knew Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic. He quotes polemics against Christianity and Islam from around two hundred books, from legal works (halachot), sermons, from Kabbalah and philosophy and from popular moral teachings. In short, Eisenmenger knew all the literature."

That Eisenmenger himself, although deeply convinced of the truth of the Christian faith, nevertheless attacks his own religious community and first wants to see the grievances within Christianity eliminated before turning the mission to the Jews, which, according to Eisenmenger, must always take place in dialogue and not under coercion, is what many do not see or do not want to see. In addition to the unification and purification of Christianity, Christians also need to be trained in the languages ​​of Jewish literature in order to be able to provide independent criticism. This is the only way Eisenmenger sees a possible mission success, which he, as he writes, also wants for the benefit of the Jews.

Johann Andreas Eisenmenger (b. 1654 in Neustadt an der Haardt, Electorate of the Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation; d. 20 December 1704 in Heidelberg or Mannheim, Electorate of the Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) was a German philologist, Protestant theologian and Orientalist, most known as the author of Entdecktes Judenthum (Judaism Unmasked), a criticism of the Talmud and Judaism more generally.

Even The Jewish Encyclopedia states that for nineteen years Eisenmenger studied rabbinical literature assisted by Jews, first in Heidelberg and afterward in Frankfort-on-the-Main, pretending that he desired to be converted to Judaism. The prince elector of the Palatinate, for who he worked, took great interest in the book, appointing Eisenmenger professor of Oriental languages at the University of Heidelberg.

However, the Jewish court factor (Hoffaktor) and diplomat from Heidelberg Samuel Wolf Oppenheimer[1] (1630–1703) and others gained an order of confiscation from the Roman-German Emperor. There was also Roman Catholic influence at work, as Eisenmenger was accused of anti-Catholic tendencies. Jews offered to pay Eisenmenger, if he would suppress his work. The discussions led to no result. Eisenmenger died suddenly of apoplexy in 1704.[2] The book became widely used by critics of Judaism.

Of the many works written by Christians critcizing rabbinical literature, Eisenmenger's has become the most popular one, although the texts of Martin Luther have greater general recognition in the world. Eisenmenger's work forced Judaism to modernize and to deal with its traditions in a more contemporary way, i.e. to a historical contextualization of Jewish writings

Life and Work

Early Upbringing

Following the death of his father Johann David Eisenmenger – an electoral collector in Mannheim who fell ill with the pestilence plague and died in 1666 – Johann Andreas Eisenmenger was sent to Heidelberg. He received his early education at the Neckarschule (Neckar school) there, completed in 1670.

Education

From 1670 through 1680, after having visited the Neckar school, Johann Andreas Eisenmenger enrolled first at the Heidelberg Collegium Sapientiae and then from 1680 through 1681 in Amsterdam at the expense of the Elector Palatine Carl I Ludwig. Eisenmenger’s linguistic zeal drew the attention of the elector in 1680. About his personality writer John Aikin tells:

“Eisenmenger was of a mild and friendly disposition, and so exceedingly modest, that strangers in his company could not discover that he was a man of so much learning.”(Aikin 1818)

And universal scholar Friedrich Karl Gottlob Hirsching conveys:

“Eisenmenger was of a middle stature, good body shape, withal kind, polite and modest, so that one would not have guessed such an erudition in him.”(Hirsching 1795)

He sought our rabbis and studied their literature for nineteen years, fooling them into thinking he wanted to convert to Judaism.[3] During his studies, he mastered the Hebrew language and the Aramaic languages in general. He traveled at the expense of his patron Carl Ludwig also to England, where he amongst other things helped Matthäus Polus complete his five-volume collection of exegetic works Synopsis criticorum aliorumque scriptorum sive interpretum et commentatorum. Afterwards he wanted to travel to the Orient, but the unexpected death of his sponsoring elector on 28 August th 1680, prevented this.

The death of his patron brought him back to Amsterdam, where he deepened his linguistic knowledge, especially his knowledge of Arabic.

Using his education

He transcribed during his stay in Amsterdam also the Quran cleanly manually and he also worked on a project called Lexicon Orientale Harmonicum, which he later abandoned (the entire handwritten bequest and Eisenmenger’s entire library went via auction to the professor for theology at the University of Heidelberg, Ludwig Christoph Mieg).

Upon his return to Heidelberg in the year 1693, the Palatinate, he found the region was under threat from the French. As Heidelberg was burnt and destroyed, he moved with his whole electoral government to Frankfurt am Main, where he worked as a registrar and archivist, from 1700 also in Heidelberg as registrar at the electoral chancellery. In 1699, he was offered a professorship at the University of Utrecht after Johann Leusden, had died, but Eisenmenger rejected this. In 1700 elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz appointed him to a professorship at the University of Heidelberg after the elector endorsed his Entdecktes Judenthum. In the year 1704, Johann Andreas Eisenmenger died due to apoplexy.

Judaism Unmasked

His magnum opus Entdecktes Judenthum (Judaism Unmasked) has a 30-year history from when initial research began to, after 19 years of writing, when it was published.

Completion of the work

For nineteen years, Johann Eisenmenger worked on his two-volume work Entdecktes Judenthum and printed it in the year 1700, when he was still in Frankfurt. Ten to twenty copies were printed early and sent to relative circles and fellow scholars for review. Afterwards, the full two thousand copies were printed by Johann Philipp Andreae.

Book banned by the Roman-German Emperor

However, the court Jews Samson Wertheimer and Samuel Oppenheimer argued before emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire that the work should be confiscated. Thus the HRE emperor banned it for forty years, and ordered all copies confiscated. Jews had already offered 12,000 Guilder for him to not publish it, but Eisenmenger refused. The Jesuits supported the confiscation, because they believed that Roman Catholicism would be badmouthed.

Prussian King publishes work

When it looked like all was lost, King in Prussia Frederick I stepped in. He agreed to publish the work in the year 1711, at his own personal expense, from the royal court printing office in Berlin. The work was still technically banned in the Holy Roman Empire, but the printing bore the imprint of Königsberg in East Prussia, beyond the borders of the Empire and it's censorship. The number of copies was three thousand and was printed under Prussian auspices after Frederick tried unsuccessfully to convince Emperor Leopold I and later also Emperor Joseph I to annul the ban. Frederick I of Prussia also gave the heirs of Johann Eisenmenger, who passed away in the year 1704, a large part of the copies he printed, so that they could recuperate from the damage sustained through the confiscation.

Later editions

In the year 1740, the work was published officially in the “Holy Roman Empire”. In 1732, the first English language translation of the first volume by a J. P. Stekelin as The Traditions of the Jews, with the Expositions and Doctrines of the Rabbis came out, 1734 the second volume. In 1893, Franz Xaver Schieferl published a selected and revised edition in Dresden. August Rohling has used Eisenmenger’s Entdecktes Judenthum extensively in his vigorously discussed book Der Talmudjude, Münster in Westphalia 1871. All publications did not have any kind of “pogrom aftermath” that Frankfurt Court Jews had warned against.

Content

The book quoted translations from the Talmud and other Hebrew sources in order to criticize these sources and Judaism. Many subsequent critics of the Talmud have used quotations from the book. Critics of the book have often not criticized the accuracy of the translations but instead argued that the quotes are taken out of context and misleadingly interpreted.

Bibliography (excerpt)

Entdecktes Judentum.png

See also

Literature

References

  1. ↑ Samuel Oppenheimer was an Ashkenazi Jewish banker, imperial court diplomat, factor, and military supplier for the Holy Roman Emperor (House of Habsburg). When he died in 1703, it triggered an earthquake in the financial world. Oppenheimer pre-financed the imperial family's policies with the help of a sophisticated, Europe-wide network.
  2. ↑ EISENMENGER, JOHANN ANDREAS Jewish Encyclopedia
  3. ↑ EISENMENGER, JOHANN ANDREAS Jewish Encyclopedia
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