Marsilio Ficino. On Dionysius the Areopagite, Volume 1: Mystical Theology and The Divine Names, Part 1 / Marsilio Ficino. On Dionysius the Areopagite, Volume 2: The Divine Names, Part 2

Abstract

Jews (pp. 20–21). The authors summarize unsparingly the antisemitic views of the Luther of the 1540s. But the unique value of this volume is two-fold. First, the French-reading general public is given a full version of this booklet. It is to be expected that a comparable English translation will also appear, benefitting from the superb annotation that the authors have furnished. For this is the second merit of the book. The arguments which Osiander offers from reason but also from Jewish tradition, are scrupulously researched and documented. It is difficult to imagine any fair-minded reader not being overwhelmed by the evidence, rationally presented. Johannes Eck was utterly unconvinced by his reading, of course, and one of the merits of the annotation is that it notes the arguments (if one may call them that) which Eck presented in his lengthy rebuttal. These have the value at least of illuminating the forcefulness of an ingrained antiJudaism and anti-Semitism which continued to characterize European Catholic culture until the twentieth century. This is in no way to exculpate Protestants, particularly central European Lutherans with their own shocking heritage. In this booklet, by Osiander or another, it is not always easy to disentangle the author’s argument from the attempt to treat the details of the specific historical accusation at Pösing. Thanks to the editors’ careful annotation, the flow of argument remains comprehensible. Let one example from his first eight proofs suffice. Unlike Protestant Christians, he states, Jews expect their obedience to the Law to give them access to eternal life (as St Paul repeatedly points out); inasmuch their law absolutely forbids the taking of human life, how can it credible that Jews would commit so vile an act that would guarantee for ever their loss of paradise? We must be grateful to the editors of the American edition of Luther (Augsburg-Fortress) for their decision to publish in volume 47 the 1543 vituperative treatise On the Jews and Their Lies. With the slim volume which is subject of this review, we now have access to a reasoned and effective response by a contemporary to the antisemitism of Luther and the majority in his era. It was a ray of light, a reason for some hopefulness in a dark chapter of European history. It ought to find its way on to college and university reading lists.