Projects & Collaborations 2 foundShow per page10 10 20 50 Mapping the Scriptures in Western Sephardi Literature Research Project | 2 Project MembersThe project seeks to carry out an extensive study on the role and the use of the Bible for the Spanish and Portuguese Jews with a Christian background in newly founded communities of the so-called Western Sephardic Diaspora (1550-1800). A unique feature of these Iberian Jews with a Christian background was the central place occupied by the Bible in the educational, religious and cultural lives, far beyond what was common in the European Jewry of the Early Modern Age. For the first time in history, Jews extensively read and referred to their Bible in (Spanish) translation, opening up a broader audience, engaging more frequently and differently with Christians. Although the importance of the vernacular (above all Spanish) Bible translations is always mentioned in scholarship, no comprehensive study has been realized of the considerable output and content of these translations. Also, no comprehensive study on the particular reception and use of the (Spanish) Bible translations in Western Sephardic literature has been realized, although editions and manuscripts are nowadays largely available in digital collections. A groundbreaking feature of the project is the incorporation of resources and instruments provided by the Digital Humanities. The project aims to "map" the role and presence of the Bible in the Western Sephardi Diaspora in two ways: 1) through an online OA textual database containing a transcription of over 50 different editions of the Spanish Bible translations, as a big data corpus enabling types of distant reading, statistics and visualizations only possible with the help of Digital Humanities; 2) through a series of in-depth studies on the Bible in the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardic literature, such as: the presence and role of the Psalms for the fashioning of individual and collective Converso religiosity/religious identity; the use of the Bible in Spanish and Portuguese preaching of the Western Sephardic Diaspora; iii. the use of the Bible in Spanish/Portuguese polemical anti-Christian or apologetic literature; the presence and relevance of the Bible in both religious and secular Spanish and Portuguese literature produced in the Western Sephardic Diaspora. The studies of the second part benefit from the insights into the use of the Bible gathered with the database made in 1, allowing for finding special "hot spots" of biblical quotations, frequently quoted passages (in translation), the versions of the Bible used (e.g. the Spanish Jewish translation, a Spanish protestant translation, the Vulgata) etc. Other forms of data analysis will also become possible, as for instance, the correlation of biblical quotations with text sorts, targeted readers, authors, etc. The results will be: the online OA textual database (part 1) as a consultable platform and a Virtual Research Environment (VRE); a series of c. 300 transcriptions/editions as base and product for part 2; also available in OA digital format, contributing to the VRE; an international, multidisciplinary conference on the role of the Bible in the Western Sephardic Diaspora in a comparative confessional context; a series of monographic studies (dissertations) and articles. Silveiradas or the theological polemics of Abraham Gómez Silveira (1656-1741) Research Project | 1 Project MembersEdition of a multivolume manuscript work of 8 volumes, with an evolving title. Started as Disertaciones sobre el Mesías , the Spanish/Portuguese Jew of converso descent Abraham (olim Diego) Gómez Silveira (1656-1741) formulated a reply to Dissertations sur le Messie (1699) of the French Protestant theologian and minister Isaac Jacquelot, aimed at convincing the Jews to accept Christ as their Messiah. Silveira translates and glosses this work with theological arguments, most of them based upon interpretations of the Scriptures. However, this work evolves into a dynamic reflection on philosophy, religion and history, and, contrary to the polemical texts by other Sephardi authors written in vernacular (Spanish, Portuguese, occasionally Italian) they include a substantial part of rhetoric, word plays, literary devices and humor. The work, extant in manuscripts that are spread over a number of libraries -no library having a "complete" series, comprises over 2'500 pages, with an estimate of 600'000 words. Silveira repeats or rephrases many of his arguments, experimenting with a variety of literary genres, in which humanistic dialogue and poetry are mos prominent. By its breath, its originality and the fact that Silveira comments and reacts to so many authors and currents of religious, philosophical and political thought of his time the work occupies a unique place in Jewish (including Sephardic) Literature. We aim at a critical edition of this oevre in its original language -a very readable Spanish- accompanied by extensive commentaries and would very much like to exchange views over how such a work could or should be published. As for the author the general content of the present work of which no volume has hitherto been published and the context of Early Modern Sephardic Culture, both Wilke and Den Boer have authored relevant studies (full text copies available). Innovation presented by manuscript: the publication of these volumes adds a significant new dimension to Jewish-Christian polemics. Contrary to traditional Jewish polemics, the work does not center exclusively on divergent interpretations of the Bible or religion; contrary to other vernacular Sephardic polemics (as the Diálogos de Marrakesch published by Wilke at Brill 2014), the process of persuasion and conversion is not played out in depth. In stead, the author reflects on religious, philosophical and political events and trends of his time, including the Libertins and Freemasonry, and repeatedly formulates pleas for the free exchange of ideas and religious tolerance. The playful, literary character of the work is also unique in the context of religious polemics. 1 1
Mapping the Scriptures in Western Sephardi Literature Research Project | 2 Project MembersThe project seeks to carry out an extensive study on the role and the use of the Bible for the Spanish and Portuguese Jews with a Christian background in newly founded communities of the so-called Western Sephardic Diaspora (1550-1800). A unique feature of these Iberian Jews with a Christian background was the central place occupied by the Bible in the educational, religious and cultural lives, far beyond what was common in the European Jewry of the Early Modern Age. For the first time in history, Jews extensively read and referred to their Bible in (Spanish) translation, opening up a broader audience, engaging more frequently and differently with Christians. Although the importance of the vernacular (above all Spanish) Bible translations is always mentioned in scholarship, no comprehensive study has been realized of the considerable output and content of these translations. Also, no comprehensive study on the particular reception and use of the (Spanish) Bible translations in Western Sephardic literature has been realized, although editions and manuscripts are nowadays largely available in digital collections. A groundbreaking feature of the project is the incorporation of resources and instruments provided by the Digital Humanities. The project aims to "map" the role and presence of the Bible in the Western Sephardi Diaspora in two ways: 1) through an online OA textual database containing a transcription of over 50 different editions of the Spanish Bible translations, as a big data corpus enabling types of distant reading, statistics and visualizations only possible with the help of Digital Humanities; 2) through a series of in-depth studies on the Bible in the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardic literature, such as: the presence and role of the Psalms for the fashioning of individual and collective Converso religiosity/religious identity; the use of the Bible in Spanish and Portuguese preaching of the Western Sephardic Diaspora; iii. the use of the Bible in Spanish/Portuguese polemical anti-Christian or apologetic literature; the presence and relevance of the Bible in both religious and secular Spanish and Portuguese literature produced in the Western Sephardic Diaspora. The studies of the second part benefit from the insights into the use of the Bible gathered with the database made in 1, allowing for finding special "hot spots" of biblical quotations, frequently quoted passages (in translation), the versions of the Bible used (e.g. the Spanish Jewish translation, a Spanish protestant translation, the Vulgata) etc. Other forms of data analysis will also become possible, as for instance, the correlation of biblical quotations with text sorts, targeted readers, authors, etc. The results will be: the online OA textual database (part 1) as a consultable platform and a Virtual Research Environment (VRE); a series of c. 300 transcriptions/editions as base and product for part 2; also available in OA digital format, contributing to the VRE; an international, multidisciplinary conference on the role of the Bible in the Western Sephardic Diaspora in a comparative confessional context; a series of monographic studies (dissertations) and articles.
Silveiradas or the theological polemics of Abraham Gómez Silveira (1656-1741) Research Project | 1 Project MembersEdition of a multivolume manuscript work of 8 volumes, with an evolving title. Started as Disertaciones sobre el Mesías , the Spanish/Portuguese Jew of converso descent Abraham (olim Diego) Gómez Silveira (1656-1741) formulated a reply to Dissertations sur le Messie (1699) of the French Protestant theologian and minister Isaac Jacquelot, aimed at convincing the Jews to accept Christ as their Messiah. Silveira translates and glosses this work with theological arguments, most of them based upon interpretations of the Scriptures. However, this work evolves into a dynamic reflection on philosophy, religion and history, and, contrary to the polemical texts by other Sephardi authors written in vernacular (Spanish, Portuguese, occasionally Italian) they include a substantial part of rhetoric, word plays, literary devices and humor. The work, extant in manuscripts that are spread over a number of libraries -no library having a "complete" series, comprises over 2'500 pages, with an estimate of 600'000 words. Silveira repeats or rephrases many of his arguments, experimenting with a variety of literary genres, in which humanistic dialogue and poetry are mos prominent. By its breath, its originality and the fact that Silveira comments and reacts to so many authors and currents of religious, philosophical and political thought of his time the work occupies a unique place in Jewish (including Sephardic) Literature. We aim at a critical edition of this oevre in its original language -a very readable Spanish- accompanied by extensive commentaries and would very much like to exchange views over how such a work could or should be published. As for the author the general content of the present work of which no volume has hitherto been published and the context of Early Modern Sephardic Culture, both Wilke and Den Boer have authored relevant studies (full text copies available). Innovation presented by manuscript: the publication of these volumes adds a significant new dimension to Jewish-Christian polemics. Contrary to traditional Jewish polemics, the work does not center exclusively on divergent interpretations of the Bible or religion; contrary to other vernacular Sephardic polemics (as the Diálogos de Marrakesch published by Wilke at Brill 2014), the process of persuasion and conversion is not played out in depth. In stead, the author reflects on religious, philosophical and political events and trends of his time, including the Libertins and Freemasonry, and repeatedly formulates pleas for the free exchange of ideas and religious tolerance. The playful, literary character of the work is also unique in the context of religious polemics.
