Josef Albo (um 1380-1444): Judische Philosophie und christliche Kontroverstheologie in der fruhen Neuzeit (review)

There are always only a few possible reasons why a book on a certain subject has not yet been written: no one had the idea so far, no one felt able to handle the subject, or perhaps the subject is simply not interesting enough for a monograph. Sina Rauschenbach claims to have published the first-ever monograph on the last great Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages, Rabbi Joseph Albo. Albo is known for his participation in the disputation of Tortosa, but it was especially his Sefer ha-iqqarim (Book of Principles), written a decade after this event, which made him one of the most widely read Jewish philosophers of all times.

Rauschenbach wants to demonstrate that the success of the Sefer ha-iqqarim was due not only to its popular style but also to the content of Albo's thought. But the overwhelming majority of the historians of Jewish thought have been unable to find much originality in Albo's writings. For instance, Julius Guttmann's classic¹ attributes Albo's theory of the three principles (iqqarim) of Judaism to Shimon ben Zemach Duran, and the rest of his system either to Maimonides or to Albo's teacher Hasdai Crescas. And, as if this were not enough, Albo's three iqqarim never found the same acceptance in the Jewish nation as Maimonides' thirteen principles, although they were systematized by Albo with the very intention of replacing the Maimonidean list. In general, Jewish authorities remained opposed to any attempt at establishing dogmas, a fact that Moses Mendelssohn emphasized in 1783 in his Jerusalem, commenting that at least nobody yet seriously denounced (verketzert) Albo for what he wrote in the Sefer ha-iqqarim.²

At this point we might almost answer the opening supposition of this review by choosing the last option—but on a closer look the book turns out to be informative and even innovative. The second part of the subtitle surely raises some interest because Christian theology of the early modern times is not usually connected with research into medieval Jewish philosophy.

Actually, the book consists of three parts: (1) a description of what happened in Tortosa; (2) a paraphrase of the main ideas of the Sefer ha-iqqarim; and (3) the history of the reception of Sefer ha-iqqarim by Christian theologians in early modern times—certainly the most interesting chapter.

Rauschenbach is aware of the claim that Albo's system lacks originality, at least are we informed of this in a footnote (p. 6, n. 20). But her own position regarding this reproach remains unclear. In the second chapter, she does not even attempt to trace Albo's doctrines back to their origin. With the exception of the mention of a few all-too-obvious parallels with Maimondes' Guide, the chapter simply concerns itself with the content of the Sefer ha-iqqarim as it is. The reason for proceeding thus becomes obvious once the reader finally reaches the third and most important chapter: here Rauschenbach wants to make claims as to how Christian theologians made use of Albo's theories, approvingly or not. Now she can refer back to the second chapter, which she does at length. But, methodologically, the procedure seems risky. So, for example, Rauschenbach believes that the anti-trinitarian author Matthias Vehe-Glirius, writing in the sixteenth century, adopted exactly Albo's definitions of apostasy and heresy as laid down in the Sefer ha-iqqarim (p. 210). Those definitions, however, are by no means Albo's, for he himself had borrowed them with no alteration from Maimonides' Hilkhot teshuva, 3.9. Even more obvious is the case of the Catholic theologian Joseph de Voisin, who is said by Rauschenbach to have borrowed "Albo's observation" (p. 230) that the authenticity of the Torah is based on the presence of a whole people during the revelation at Mount Sinai, a thought as...