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Imaginary Controversists : Abraham Gómez Silveyra and the Theologians of the Huguenot Exile
Title / Series / Name
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Authors
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Keywords
Amsterdam
Enlightenment
Jewish-Christian Polemics
Tolerance
BR Christianity
BM Judaism
History
Religious Studies
Linguistics and Language
Enlightenment
Jewish-Christian Polemics
Tolerance
BR Christianity
BM Judaism
History
Religious Studies
Linguistics and Language
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/26550
Abstract
In the Huguenot refugee community in The Netherlands, known as a hotbed of the early Enlightenment, literary interest in Judaism was ubiquitous, yet actual Dutch Jews were relegated to a marginal position in the exchange of ideas. It is this paradoxical experience of cultural participation and social exclusion that a major unpublished source allows to depict. The ex-converso Abraham Gómez Silveyra (1651–1741), a merchant endowed with rabbinic education and proficiency in French, composed eight manuscript volumes of theological reflections in Spanish literary prose and poetry. This huge clan-destine series, which survives in three copies, shows the author’s insatiable curiosity for Christian thought. While rebutting Isaac Jacquelot’s missionary activity, he fraternizes with Pierre Jurieu’s millenarianism, Jacques Basnage’s historiography, and Pierre Bayle’s plea for religious freedom. Gómez Silveyra, however, being painfully aware of his voicelessness in the public sphere, enacts Bayle’s utopian project as a closed perform-ance for a Jewish audience.
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Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2021-12-30
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.3989/sefarad.021-014