From Christianity to Judaism : the story of Isaac Orobio de Castro

Bibliographic Information

From Christianity to Judaism : the story of Isaac Orobio de Castro

Yosef Kaplan ; translated by Raphael Loewe

(The Littman library of Jewish civilization)

Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004

  • : pbk

Other Title

Mi-Natsrut le-Yahadut

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Note

Original title from CIP on t.p. vereo

"First published 1989 by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization"--T.p. verso

"First issued in paperback 2004. First digital on-demand edition 2004"--T.p. verso

Includes bibliographical references (p. [469]-506) and indexes

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Isaac Orobio de Castro, a crypto-Jew from Portugal, was one of the most prominent intellectual figures of the Sephardi Diaspora in the seventeenth century. After studying medicine and theology in Spain, and having pursued a distinguished medical career, he was arrested by the Spanish Inquisition for practising Judaism, tortured, tired, and imprisoned. He subsequently emigrated to France and became a professor of medicine at the University of Toulouse before openly professing his Judaism and going to Amsterdam where he joined the thriving Portuguese Jewish community. Amsterdam was then a city of great cultural creativity and religious pluralism where Orobio found open to him the world of religious thinkers and learned scholars. In this atmosphere he flourished and became an outstanding spokesman and apologist for the Jewish community. He engaged in controversy with Juan de Prado and Baruch Spinoza, who were both excommunicated by the Portuguese Jewish community, as well as with Christian theologians of various sects and denominations, including Philip van Limborch. This fascinating biography of Orobio sheds light on the complex life of a unique Jewish community of former Christians who had openly returned to Judaism. It focuses on the particular dilemmas of the converts, their attempts to establish boundaries between their Christian past and their new identity, their internal conflicts, and their ability to create new forms of Jewish life and expression.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Hebrew Edition Preface to the English Edition List of plates Maps and Tables List of Abbreviations From Portugal to Spain: The Alvares de Orobio Family University Studies: Osuna and Alcala * The Plague at Malaga, 1637: Baltazar Alvares' Account A Long Brush with the Inquisition, 1639-1643 Isabel Luis and Andres de Narvaez * Violante de Paz, her Children, and her Brother Jose de Castro * Manuel Alvares and Santiago Luis Building a Career in Andalusia Professor at Seville and Service to the Duke of Medinaceli * Scientific Discussion of Phlebotomy * Cadiz Imprisoned by the Seville Inquisition Freedom The Last Years in Spain * Toulouse * Associations with the Price of Conde and the King of France * Amsterdam: The Dutch Jerusalem Doubt and Certainty Orobio de Castro's Questions to Rabbi Moses Raphael d'Aguilar * Isaac Orobio and Juan de Prado: Intellectual Ferment in Sephardi Amsterdam Philosopher, Communal Leader, Physician Raymond Lull's Philosopht Debated * Communal Activity within the Portuguese Congregation * Medical Practice in Amsterdam * Personal Standing and Material Circumstances Isaac Orobio and Sabbateanism Facing Calvinists and Catholics Debate with a Huguenot on Salvation * 'Divine Forewarning' against Catholic 'Idolatry' * Tracts on the 'Seventy Weeks and the 'Suffering Servant' * Judaism vis-a-vis Christianity Philosophers, Theologians, and Poets Spinoza and Metaphysics: Meeting the Challenge * A 'Friendly Conversation': Isaac Orobio and Philip van Limborch * Poets, Poetasters, and Patrons: The Academia de los Floridos * Last Days The Intellectual World of Orobio de Castro The Hispanic Heritage * Between Scholasticism and Fideistic Scepticism * Political and Social Attitudes From Crypto-Judaism to Open Judaism A New Jewish Perspective on Converso Life * The Jewish World: From Dreams to Reality * Israel and the Gentiles * The Jewish Fate: Exile and Redemption Epilogue Appendices A The Iconography of Isaac Orobio B Poetical Account of the Plague of Malaga, 1637, by Baltasar Alvares (Isaac Orobio de Castro) C Schedule of Moveable Property of Baltasar (Isaac) Orobio Sequestrated by the Inquisition at Cadiz, August 1654 D Membership of the Academia de los Floridos E Manuscripts of Works by Isaac Orobio de Castro F Orobio's Letters to Prado's Son: A Textual Comparison G Translations of Orobio's Works in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries H Works Attributed to Orobio Bibliography Name Index Place Index Subject Index

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