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83-652: Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (15/16 July 1636 – 4 May 1689) was a German Christian Hebraist and Christian Cabalist born at Alt-Raudten (today Stara Rudna ) in Silesia . After having completed his studies in the universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig , he traveled through the Netherlands , France , and England . At Amsterdam, he became acquainted with an Armenian prince, with the chief Rabbi, Meier Stern, Dr. John Lightfoot and Henry More . Influenced by them, and others, he studied Oriental languages, chemistry, and

166-415: A commemoration on 30 September. Jerome is also often depicted with a lion, in reference to the popular hagiographical belief that Jerome once tamed a lion in the wilderness by healing its paw. The source for the story may actually have been the second century Roman tale of Androcles , or confusion with the exploits of Gerasimus (Jerome in later Latin is "Geronimus"); it is "a figment" found in

249-848: A crucial source of information on the pronunciation of the Hebrew language in Byzantine Palestine . Due to his work, Jerome is recognized as a saint and Doctor of the Church by the Catholic Church , and as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church , the Lutheran Church , and the Anglican Communion . His feast day is 30 September ( Gregorian calendar ). Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

332-406: A great advance upon previous efforts, still relies upon second-hand sources for many of the pictures that he draws (see Abrahams in "J. Q. R." xi. 628). Adolf von Harnack , who, in his Dogmengeschichte (3d ed.), endeavors to do some justice to the rabbis of old, in his Wesen des Christenthums (1900), sustains potential historical inaccuracies from a perhaps selective review of Jewish literature of

415-518: A mass of Jewish learning. Johann Christoph Wolf (d. 1739), who, with the help of the Oppenheimer library, was able to produce his Bibliotheca Hebræa , which laid the foundation for all later works in Hebrew bibliography. Johann Christian Georg Bodenschatz (d. 1797), though not a scholarly Hebraist, gave an accurate account of Jewish ceremonials. By the side of these stand Bashuysen (d. 1750),

498-627: A number of hymns, including "Jesus, Sun of Righteousness", " Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit " ("Dayspring of Eternity", or "Come, Thou Bright and Morning Star"). A longer biography is available in Scholem (1974). In Knorr Rosenroth's view, the Adam Kadmon of the cabalists is Jesus , and the three highest sefirot represent the Trinity . He intended to make a Latin translation of the Zohar and

581-679: A printer of Hebrew books. Arius Montanus (d. 1598) edited the Masorah and the Travels of Benjamin of Tudela . Widmanstadt (1523), living in a colony of Spanish Jewish refugees in Naples , studied Hebrew with David ibn Ya'ya and Baruch of Benevento , and collected the Hebrew manuscripts which formed the basis of the Hebrew division of the Royal Library at Munich. Vatablé (d. 1547) made use of Rashi 's commentary. Conrad Gesner (d. 1565)

664-501: A publication now in the public domain :  Richard Gottheil (1901–1906). "Christian Hebraist" . In Singer, Isidore ; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls. The bibliography of that article is below: Saint Jerome Jerome ( / dʒ ə ˈ r oʊ m / ; Latin : Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος ; c.  342–347 – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon ,

747-470: A serious attempt was made to understand the post-Biblical literature, and many of the most important works were translated into Latin. In this connection the following names may be mentioned: Johannes Cocceius (d. 1667); Constantin L'Empereur (d. 1648); John Lightfoot (d. 1675); Johann Leusden (d. 1699); and especially Surenhuis (1698), who gave a complete translation of the Mishnah ; Jewish theology

830-531: A similar society bearing the same name in Berlin and founded by Hermann Strack , have attempted, by their various publications, to diffuse in the Christian world a knowledge of Jewish writings. Gustav Dalman has shown by his philological works on Talmudic grammar and lexicography that he is at home in the rabbinic writings. Hermann Strack in Berlin demands special mention not only for his publications dealing with

913-629: A valuable collection of Hebrew manuscripts; and by his side may be mentioned Joseph Pasinus (or Giuseppe Passini) in Turin (d. 1749), Antonio Maria Biscioni in Florence (d. 1752), Giuseppe Simone Assemani in Rome, and Ury in Oxford (d. 1787). The downward trend continued in the first half of the 19th century; Jewish literature became less and less a subject of investigation by Christians; and when it

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996-461: Is depicted alongside his red cardinal hat. Jerome is often depicted in connection with the vanitas motif, the reflection on the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. In the 16th century Saint Jerome in his study by Pieter Coecke van Aelst and workshop, the saint is depicted with a skull. Behind him on the wall is pinned an admonition, Cogita Mori ("Think upon death"). Further reminders of

1079-528: Is extensive. In addition to his biblical works, he wrote polemical and historical essays, always from a theologian's perspective. Jerome was known for his teachings on Christian moral life, especially those in cosmopolitan centers such as Rome. He often focused on women's lives and identified how a woman devoted to Jesus should live her life. This focus stemmed from his close patron relationships with several prominent female ascetics who were members of affluent senatorial families . In addition, his works are

1162-678: Is neither read nor held among the Hebrews, but does not explicitly call it apocryphal or "not in the canon". His Preface to the Books of Samuel and Kings (commonly called the Helmeted Preface ) includes the following statement: This preface to the Scriptures may serve as a "helmeted" introduction to all the books which we turn from Hebrew into Latin, so that we may be assured that what is not found in our list must be placed amongst

1245-407: Is said to have been a converted Jew, and therefore finds no place here. Special mention should be made of Ezra Stiles , the learned president of Yale College (1778), certainly the most learned Christian student of post-Biblical Jewish literature that America has produced. Towards the end of the 18th century such friends of Hebrew literature became ever rarer. The rise of Biblical criticism and of

1328-885: The Vulgate ; the Vulgate eventually superseded the preceding Latin translations of the Bible (the Vetus Latina ). The Council of Trent in 1546 declared the Vulgate authoritative "in public lectures, disputations, sermons, and expositions". Jerome showed more zeal and interest in the ascetic ideal than in abstract speculation. He lived as an ascetic for 4~5 years in the Syrian desert, and later near Bethlehem for 34 years. Nevertheless, his writings show outstanding scholarship and his correspondence has great historical importance. The Church of England honours Jerome with

1411-565: The Tiḳḳunim, and he published as preliminary studies the first two volumes of his Kabbala Denudata, sive Doctrina Hebræorum Transcendentalis et Metaphysica Atque Theologia (Sulzbach, 1677–78). They contain a cabalistic nomenclature, the Idra Rabbah and Idra Zuṭa and the Sifra di-Ẓeni'uta, cabalistic essays of Naphtali Herz ben Jacob Elhanan , etc. Rosenroth published two other volumes under

1494-566: The Twelfth-Century Renaissance , contact between Christian and Jewish scholars increased. Peter Abelard (d.1142) recommended that Christian scholars take up the language of the Old Testament and many followed this recommendation. The School of Saint Victor became the centre of Hebraism in western Europe. The school of Toledo also worked with Hebrew, but it was secondary to Arabic. Adam of Saint Victor (d.1146)

1577-549: The University of California , the University of Chicago , Harvard University , and Johns Hopkins University , in America. The Jews had been allowed to work out by themselves the new Jewish science ( Jüdische Wissenschaft ), little attention being paid to that work by others. In more recent times Christian scholars have given Jewish literature their attention. Abbé Pietro Perreau has done good service by his many articles on

1660-474: The philologist Aelius Donatus . There he learned Latin and at least some Koine Greek , though he probably did not yet acquire the familiarity with Greek literature that he later claimed to have acquired as a schoolboy. As a student, Jerome engaged in the superficial escapades and sexual experimentation of students in Rome; he indulged himself quite casually but he suffered terrible bouts of guilt afterwards. To appease his conscience , on Sundays he visited

1743-525: The sepulchers of the martyrs and the Apostles in the catacombs. This experience reminded him of the terrors of Hell : Often I would find myself entering those crypts, deep dug in the earth, with their walls on either side lined with the bodies of the dead, where everything was so dark that almost it seemed as though the Psalmist's words were fulfilled, Let them go down quick into Hell. Here and there

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1826-559: The vanitas motif of the passage of time and the imminence of death are the image of the Last Judgment visible in the saint's Bible, the candle and the hourglass. Both Agostino Carracci and Domenichino portrayed Jerome's last communion . Jerome is also sometimes depicted with an owl , the symbol of wisdom and scholarship. Writing materials and the trumpet of final judgment are also part of his iconography . A four and three quarters foot tall limestone statue of Jerome

1909-741: The 19th century, apart from a few stray courses, such as Emil Kautzsch 's on Kimhi at Tübingen, Lagarde's on Al-Ḥarizi at Göttingen , and Strack 's on the Mishnah at Berlin, the whole of rabbinic literature was ignored by European universities. Honorable exceptions in this respect were furnished in the universities of Oxford (where A. Cowley was sublibrarian of the Bodleian Library ) and Cambridge (which has produced such scholars as W. H. Lowe , Matthews , and Charles Taylor ) in England, and in Columbia University ,

1992-632: The Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the Ocean, has been laid waste by hordes of Quadi , Vandals , Sarmatians , Alans , Gepids , Herules, Saxons , Burgundians , Allemanni , and – alas! for the commonweal! – even Pannonians . His Commentary on Daniel was expressly written to offset the criticisms of Porphyry , who taught that Daniel related entirely to the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and

2075-780: The Antichrist sat in God's Temple inasmuch as he made "himself out to be like God." Jerome identified the four prophetic kingdoms symbolized in Daniel ;2 as the Neo-Babylonian Empire , the Medes and Persians , Macedon , and Rome. Jerome identified the stone cut out without hands as "namely, the Lord and Savior". Jerome refuted Porphyry's application of the little horn of chapter seven to Antiochus. He expected that at

2158-599: The Apocryphal writings. Wisdom , therefore, which generally bears the name of Solomon, and the book of Jesus, the Son of Sirach , and Judith , and Tobias , and the Shepherd are not in the canon. The first book of Maccabees I have found to be Hebrew, the second is Greek, as can be proved from the very style. The following passage, taken from Jerome's Life of St. Hilarion which was written c.  392 , appears to be

2241-575: The Christian Church got their knowledge of Hebrew traditions ( Masoretic , Midrashim and Aggadah ) from their Jewish teachers. That is seen especially in the exegesis of Justin Martyr , Aphraates , Ephraem Syrus and Origen of Alexandria . Jerome 's teachers are even mentioned by name such as Bar Ḥanina (Hananiah). Syriac Christians have always been reading and using Hebrew texts. In Western Christianity , however, knowledge of Hebrew

2324-520: The Hebrews") translation of the Old Testament. However, detailed studies have shown that to a considerable degree Jerome was a competent Hebraist. Jerome also produced two onomastica : For the next 15 years, until he died, Jerome produced a number of commentaries on Scripture, often explaining his translation choices in using the original Hebrew rather than suspect translations. His patristic commentaries align closely with Jewish tradition, and he indulges in allegorical and mystical subtleties after

2407-486: The Mishnah teachers; and Bartolocci's Bibliotheca Rabbinica (1675) was a worthy continuation of these bibliographical labors. The first half of the 18th century contains the names of three important scholars. Jacques Basnage knew no Hebrew, but his L'Histoire de la Religion des Juifs was the first attempt at a complete presentation of the history of Judaism. The Entdecktes Judenthum of Eisenmenger (d.1704) exhibits

2490-490: The actual meaning of Scripture belonged to the "synagogue of the Antichrist". "He that is not of Christ is of Antichrist," he wrote to Pope Damasus I . He believed that "the mystery of iniquity" written about by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 was already in action when "every one chatters about his views." To Jerome, the power restraining this mystery of iniquity was the Roman Empire, but as it fell this restraining force

2573-547: The attention of Christian scholars. The roll of Christian Hebraists in England includes the names of J. W. Etheridge, the author of a popular Introduction to [post-Biblical] Hebrew Literature (1856); Thomas Chenery , translator of Legends from the Midrash (1877), and editor of Al-Ḥarizi's translation of Ḥariri; and W. H. Lowe , who edited the Palestinian recension of the Mishnah. In spite, however, of these facts and of

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2656-887: The cabalistic sciences. On his return, he settled at Sulzbach where he became the privy counsellor of Christian Augustus, Count Palatine of Sulzbach . He devoted himself to the study of Hebrew . Later he became a student of the Kabbalah , in which he believed to find proofs of the doctrines of Christianity . At the request of Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont he helped translate, edit and publish in Latin Jan van Helmont 's writings on chemistry . He also dedicated time to translate Thomas Browne 's vast-ranging work of scientific journalism, Pseudodoxia Epidemica , totalling over 200,000 words into German, completing this task in 1680 for publication in Frankfurt and Leipzig. He also composed

2739-431: The chair to Elijah Levita , the friend of Cardinal Ægidius of Viterbo , who declined to accept it. Cardinal Grimani and other dignitaries, both of the state and of the Church, studied Hebrew and the Kabbalah with Jewish teachers; even the warrior Guido Rangoni attempted the Hebrew language with the aid of Jacob Mantino (1526). Pico de la Mirandola (d. 1494) was the first to collect Hebrew manuscripts, and Reuchlin

2822-446: The earliest account of the etiology , symptoms and cure of severe vitamin A deficiency : From his thirty-first to his thirty-fifth year he had for food six ounces of barley bread , and vegetables slightly cooked without oil. But finding that his eyes were growing dim, and that his whole body was shrivelled with an eruption and a sort of stony roughness ( impetigine et pumicea quad scabredine ) he added oil to his former food, and up to

2905-473: The end of the world, Rome would be destroyed, and partitioned among ten kingdoms before the little horn appeared. Jerome believed that Cyrus of Persia is the higher of the two horns of the Medo-Persian ram of Daniel 8:3. The he-goat is Greece smiting Persia. Jerome opposed the doctrine of Pelagianism , and wrote against it three years before his death. Jerome, despite being opposed to Origen,

2988-399: The equipment of a scholar, or in a rocky desert, or in a setting that combines both aspects, with him studying a book under the shelter of a rock-face or cave mouth. His study is often shown as large and well-provided for, he is often clean-shaven and well-dressed, and a cardinal's hat may appear. These images derive from the tradition of the evangelist portrait , though Jerome is often given

3071-605: The guidance of a converted Jew ; and he seems to have been in correspondence with Jewish Christians in Antioch. Around this time he had copied for himself a Hebrew Gospel, of which fragments are preserved in his notes. It is known today as the Gospel of the Hebrews , which the Nazarenes considered to be the true Gospel of Matthew . Jerome translated parts of this Hebrew Gospel into Greek. As protégé of Pope Damasus I , Jerome

3154-539: The library and desk of a serious scholar. His attribute of the lion, often shown at a smaller scale, may be beside him in either setting. The subject of "Jerome Penitent" first appears in the later 15th century in Italy; he is usually in the desert, wearing ragged clothes, and often naked above the waist. His gaze is usually fixed on a crucifix and he may beat himself with his fist or a rock. In one of Georges de La Tour's 17th century French versions of St. Jerome his penitence

3237-418: The light, not entering in through windows, but filtering down from above through shafts, relieved the horror of the darkness. But again, as soon as you found yourself cautiously moving forward, the black night closed around and there came to my mind the line of Virgil, "Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent". The quotation from Virgil reads, in translation, "On all sides round, horror spread wide;

3320-656: The literature of the Jews in the Middle Ages and by the assistance he has given to scholars from the Hebrew manuscripts at Parma ; Martin Hartmann has translated and commentated the "Meteḳ Sefatayim" of Immanuel Frances (Berlin, 1894); Thomas Robinson has collected some good material in his The Evangelists and the Mishna (1859). August Wünsche , in his "Erläuterung der Evangelien aus Midrasch und Talmud" (1878), enlarged

3403-663: The literature of the Mishnah and the Talmud, but also on account of the fearless manner in which he has combated anti-Semitic prejudice, drawing his material directly from the original sources. Carl Siegfried , in his yearly reports in the Theologischer Jahresbericht , for many years called attention to publications on Jewish subjects, and the mention of such works in the Orientalische Bibliographie has served to bring them more closely to

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3486-523: The mainstream Rabbinical Judaism had rejected the Septuagint as invalid Jewish scriptural texts because of what were ascertained as mistranslations along with its Hellenistic heretical elements. He completed this work by 405. Prior to Jerome's Vulgate, all Latin translations of the Old Testament were based on the Septuagint, not the Hebrew. Jerome's decision to use a Hebrew text instead of

3569-635: The manner of Philo and the Alexandrian school . Unlike his contemporaries, he emphasizes the difference between the Hebrew Bible "Apocrypha" and the Hebraica veritas of the protocanonical books . In his Vulgate's prologues , he describes some portions of books in the Septuagint that were not found in the Hebrew as being non- canonical (he called them apocrypha ); for Baruch , he mentions by name in his Prologue to Jeremiah and notes that it

3652-507: The one to whom he was writing. Due to the time he spent in Rome among wealthy families belonging to the Roman upper class, Jerome was frequently commissioned by women who had taken a vow of virginity to write to them in guidance of how to live their life. As a result, he spent a great deal of his life corresponding with these women about certain abstentions and lifestyle practices. Jerome warned that those substituting false interpretations for

3735-417: The point that she died just four months after starting to follow his instructions; much of the Roman populace was outraged that Jerome, in their view, thus caused the premature death of such a lively young woman. Additionally, his insistence to Paula that Blaesilla should not be mourned and complaints that her grief was excessive were seen as heartless, which further polarized Roman opinion against him. Jerome

3818-476: The previously translated Septuagint went against the advice of most other Christians, including Augustine , who thought the Septuagint inspired . Modern scholarship, however, has sometimes cast doubts on the actual quality of Jerome's Hebrew knowledge. Many modern scholars believe that the Greek Hexapla is the main source for Jerome's "iuxta Hebraeos" (i.e. "close to the Hebrews", "immediately following

3901-697: The relevant period, possibly most noticeable in a lack of regard for the Jewish literature and history during the most recent eighteen hundred years. The following list of Christian Hebraists includes material taken from the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), compiled upon the basis of Steinschneider's article mentioned in the bibliography below. Christian students of the Bible more generally were not included, as they may be found in other articles. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

3984-749: The scope of the inquiry begun by Lightfoot; and his translations from the Midrash opened up the stores of ancient Jewish exegesis. Weber's System der Altsynagogalen Palestinischen Theologie (1880) was, with all its failings, an honest attempt to understand the theology of the Synagogue , followed by Wilhelm Bousset in his Religiondes Judenthums im Neutestamentlichen Zeitalter (1903). Dom Pedro II , Emperor of Brazil, should also be mentioned for his publication of Provençal Jewish poetry. The Institutum Judaicum in Leipzig , founded by Franz Delitzsch , and

4067-457: The sixty-third year of his life followed this temperate course, tasting neither fruit nor pulse, nor anything whatsoever besides. Jerome's letters or epistles , both by the great variety of their subjects and by their qualities of style, form an important portion of his literary remains. Whether he is discussing problems of scholarship, or reasoning on cases of conscience, comforting the afflicted, or saying pleasant things to his friends, scourging

4150-681: The students of Jewish teachers. In fact, one of the most noted Hebraists of this period was Immanuel Tremellius (1510–1580), born Jewish and converted first to Catholicism and soon thereafter became a Calvinist, producing the main Reformed translation of the Hebrew Bible into Latin (he also translated the New Testament from the Syriac into Latin). Sebastian Münster (d. 1552) was known as a grammarian; Pellicanus (d. 1556) and Pagninius (d. 1541), as lexicographers; Daniel Bomberg (d. 1549), as

4233-602: The study of other Semitic languages engaged the whole interest of Semitic scholars. Even Rabe , the translator of the Mishnah into German (d. 1798), Semmler , Michaelis , Tychsen (d. 1815), and Sylvestre de Sacy (d. 1838) can hardly be mentioned by the side of the humanists of previous centuries. Interest in the text of the Bible caused some work to be done in the collecting of Hebrew manuscripts, especially by Benjamin Kennicott in England (1776–80) and Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi in Italy (1784–88). The last-named made

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4316-545: The ten kings. ... After they have been slain, the seven other kings also will bow their necks to the victor. In his Commentary on Daniel , he noted, "Let us not follow the opinion of some commentators and suppose him to be either the Devil or some demon, but rather, one of the human race, in whom Satan will wholly take up his residence in bodily form." Instead of rebuilding the Jewish Temple to reign from, Jerome thought

4399-402: The thirteenth-century Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine . Hagiographies of Jerome talk of his having spent many years in the Syrian desert, and artists often depict him in a "wilderness", which for West European painters can take the form of a wood. From the late Middle Ages, depictions of Jerome in a wider setting became popular. He is either shown in his study, surrounded by books and

4482-404: The time, he was criticized for it. Even in his time, Jerome noted Porphyry's accusation that the Christian communities were run by women and that the favor of the ladies decided who could accede to the dignity of the priesthood. In Rome, Jerome was surrounded by a circle of well-born and well-educated women, including some from the noblest patrician families. Among these women were such as

4565-479: The title Kabbala Denudata (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1684), containing the Sha'ar ha-Shamayim of Abraham Cohen de Herrera and several of the writings of Isaac Luria . He was created Baron von Rosenroth by the Emperor Leopold I . A partial English translation of the Kabbala Denudata was made by S. L. MacGregor Mathers in 1887 which is still in print by several publishers under the title The Kabbalah Unveiled. Christian Hebraist The early fathers of

4648-575: The translator and printer of Hebrew books; Reland (d. 1718), the first to use Talmudic material for the study of the geography of Palestine; the bibliographers Unger (d. 1719) and Gagnier (d. 1720), who gave Wolf his information regarding the manuscripts in the Bodleian; J. H. Michaelis (d. 1738) and Mai (d. 1732), who compiled a catalogue of the Uffenbach library ; Baratier (d. 1740), the youthful prodigy, who wrote on Benjamin of Tudela ; Mill (d. 1756), who treated rabbinical exegesis; and Wähner (1762), who described Hebrew antiquities. Biagio Ugolini (1744)

4731-423: The value to the theologian of studying the works of the Rabbis. Their writings on the Bible were read by Schickard (1635), Humphrey Hody (d. 1706), and Richard Simon (d. 1712), while catalogues of Hebrew collections were published by Plantavitius (d. 1651), Le Long (d. 1721), and Montfaucon (d. 1741). Hottinger gave this literature a place in his Bibliotheca Orientalis ; Otho (1672) wrote a biographical lexicon of

4814-469: The very silence breathed a terror on my soul". Although at first afraid of Christianity, he eventually converted . Seized with a desire for a life of ascetic penance , Jerome went for a time to the desert of Chalcis , to the southeast of Antioch , known as the "Syrian Thebaid " from the number of eremites (hermits) inhabiting it. During this period, he seems to have found time for studying and writing. He made his first attempt to learn Hebrew under

4897-507: The vices and corruptions of the time and against sexual immorality among the clergy, exhorting to the ascetic life and renunciation of the world , or debating his theological opponents, he gives a vivid picture not only of his own mind, but of the age and its peculiar characteristics. (See Plowboy trope .) Because there was no distinct line between personal documents and those meant for publication, his letters frequently contain both confidential messages and treatises meant for others besides

4980-475: The view that all Christians would eventually be reunited to God was criticized by Augustine in his treatise "on faith and works". Jerome is the second-most voluminous writer – after Augustine of Hippo (354–430) – in ancient Latin Christianity. The Catholic Church recognizes him as the patron saint of translators, librarians, and encyclopedists . Jerome translated many biblical texts into Latin from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. His translations formed part of

5063-416: The warning given by Lagarde ( Symmicta , ii. 147; Mittheilungen , ii. 165), that in order to understand the Bible text itself a deep study of the Halakah is necessary, Christian writers on the life of Jesus continue their disregard of the primary sources. This may be seen in Hausrath's Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte ( Kaufmann Gedenkbuch , p. 659), and even in Schürer ( Gesch. ), who, though making

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5146-433: The widows Lea , Marcella , and Paula , and Paula's daughters Blaesilla and Eustochium . The resulting inclination of these women towards the monastic life, away from the indulgent lasciviousness in Rome, and his unsparing criticism of the secular clergy of Rome, brought a growing hostility against him among the Roman clergy and their supporters. Soon after the death of his patron Pope Damasus I on 10 December 384, Jerome

5229-449: Was a scholar at a time when being a scholar implied a fluency in Greek. He knew some Hebrew when he started his translation project , but moved to Jerusalem to strengthen his grip on Jewish scripture commentary. A wealthy Roman aristocrat, Paula, funded Jerome's stay in a monastery in the nearby city of Bethlehem , where he settled next to the Church of the Nativity – built half a century prior on orders of Emperor Constantine over what

5312-475: Was an early Christian priest , confessor , theologian , translator , and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome . He is best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin (the translation that became known as the Vulgate ) and his commentaries on the whole Bible. Jerome attempted to create a translation of the Old Testament based on a Hebrew version, rather than the Septuagint , as prior Latin Bible translations had done. His list of writings

5395-403: Was born at Stridon around 342–347 AD. He was of Illyrian ancestry. He was not baptized until about 360–369 in Rome, where he had gone with his friend Bonosus of Sardica to pursue rhetorical and philosophical studies. (This Bonosus may or may not have been the same Bonosus whom Jerome identifies as his friend who went to live as a hermit on an island in the Adriatic.) Jerome studied under

5478-418: Was evangelical. They were instrumental, however, in setting up chairs of Hebrew in universities across Europe. The ecumenical Council of Vienne (1312) ordered chairs established at the universities of Rome , Oxford , Paris , Salamanca and Bologna . Paris had the leading Hebraist of the period in Nicholas of Lyra (d.1349), while following him was Bishop Paul of Burgos (d.1435), a Jewish convert. It

5561-650: Was forced to leave his position at Rome after an inquiry was brought up by the Roman clergy into allegations that he had an improper relationship with the widow Paula. Still, his writings were highly regarded by women who were attempting to maintain vows of becoming consecrated virgins . His letters were widely read and distributed throughout the Christian empire and it is clear through his writing that he knew these virgin women were not his only audience. Additionally, Jerome's condemnation of Blaesilla's hedonistic lifestyle in Rome led her to adopt ascetic practices, but these affected her health and worsened her physical weakness to

5644-412: Was given duties in Rome, and he undertook a revision of the Vetus Latina Gospels based on Greek manuscripts. He also updated the Psalter containing the Book of Psalms then in use in Rome, based on the Septuagint . Throughout his epistles he shows himself to be surrounded by women and united with close ties; it is estimated that 40% of his epistles were addressed to someone of the female sex and, at

5727-426: Was historically scarce outside of converts from Judaism. It has often been claimed that the Venerable Bede (d.735) knew something of Hebrew. However, his knowledge appears to have been gleaned entirely from St Jerome . The same may be said of Alcuin (b.735), who revised the Biblical translation of Jerome. The ninth-century Pseudo-Jerome , who worked in the circle of Rabanus Maurus (d.856), knew Hebrew. During

5810-465: Was influenced by Origenism in his soteriology. Although he taught that the Devil and the unbelieving will be eternally punished (unlike Origen), he believed that the punishment for Christian sinners, who have once believed but sin and fall away will be temporal in nature. Some scholars such as J.N.D Kelly have also interpreted Ambrose to have held similar views considering the judgement of Christians. Although Augustine does not name Jerome personally,

5893-440: Was not until the end of the 15th century that the Renaissance and the Reformation, while awakening a new interest in the classics, brought about a return to the original text of Scripture and an attempt to understand the later literature of the Jews. Hieronymus Buslidius , the friend of Erasmus , gave more than 20,000 francs to establish a Hebrew chair at Louvain ; as the chair of Hebrew at the University of Paris , Francis offered

5976-532: Was only too well founded. During the second half of the 19th century, however, the idea gained currency that there was something to be learned by going back to the sources of this history; but only a very few of the universities made a place for this study in their curricula. At the beginning of the 18th century David Rudolph of Liegnitz included Rabbinisch und Chaldäisch among the Oriental languages which he taught at Heidelberg; but he had few imitators; and in

6059-507: Was partially fulfilled by Antiochus. Instead, he advocated that the "little horn" was the Antichrist: We should therefore concur with the traditional interpretation of all the commentators of the Christian Church, that at the end of the world, when the Roman Empire is to be destroyed, there shall be ten kings who will partition the Roman world amongst themselves. Then an insignificant eleventh king will arise, who will overcome three of

6142-495: Was removed. He warned a noblewoman of Gaul : He that letteth is taken out of the way, and yet we do not realize that Antichrist is near. Yes, Antichrist is near whom the Lord Jesus Christ "shall consume with the spirit of his mouth". "Woe unto them," he cries, "that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." ... Savage tribes in countless numbers have overrun all parts of Gaul. The whole country between

6225-584: Was reputed to be the site of the Nativity of Jesus – and he completed his translation there. He began in 382 by correcting the existing Latin-language version of the New Testament, commonly referred to as the Vetus Latina . By 390 he turned to translating the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew, having previously translated portions from the Septuagint which came from Alexandria. He believed that

6308-489: Was strongest in England. Among the prominent English Hebraists were Alexander Neckham (d.1217); Stephen Langton (d.1228), who composed a Hebrew–Latin dictionary of Biblical terms; William de la Mare (fl.1272–79), who was patronised by Robert Grosseteste (d.1253); and Roger Bacon (d.c.1292), who wrote a Hebrew grammar. In the fourteenth century, the Franciscans and Dominicans took up Hebrew, but their purpose

6391-453: Was studied by Carpzov (d. 1699), Wagenseil (1705; whose letters show how he gathered information), and Johann Stephan Rittangel (1641); antiquities, by Samuel Bochart (d. 1667), Hottinger (d. 1667), Hyde (d. 1700), Trigland (d. 1705), Breithaupt (1707), and Johann Jakob Schudt (d. 1722). It was a time in which the Christian theologian studied Hebrew and rabbinics before taking up his specific theological study. Hackspan (d. 1659) wrote upon

6474-506: Was studied it was generally for the purpose of forging weapons against the people whose literature it was. This is seen in such works as A. T. Hartmann 's Thesaurus Linguæ Hebr. c Mischna Augendi (1825), in Winer's Biblisches Real Wörterbuch , and even in the works of Hitzig and Ewald. There was no understanding even of the period of Jewish history during which Christianity arose and developed; and David Strauss 's complaint in regard to this

6557-506: Was the first Christian to compile a catalogue of Hebrew books; Jacob Christmann (d. 1613) busied himself with the Jewish calendar, and Drusius (d. 1616) with the ethical writings of the Jews. Johannes Buxtorf (d. 1629) marks a turning-point in the study of Jewish literature by Christians. He not only studied the Targum and the Talmud , but endeavored to understand Jewish history, and he

6640-620: Was the first real bibliographer. Women showed an interest: Anna Maria van Schurman , the "star of the century", in the Dutch Republic; Dorothy Dury in England; Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689); Maria Dorothea , consort of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar ; Elizabeth , daughter of Frederick of the Palatinate ; Maria Eleanora , wife of Charles Ludwig of the Palatinate ; Antonia, daughter of Duke Eberhard of Württemberg . Through Buxtorf

6723-410: Was the first to write a dictionary and short grammar of the Hebrew language (1506). A more detailed grammar was published by Otto Walper in 1590. But interest still centered wholly around the Bible and the expository literature immediately connected therewith. During the whole of the 16th century it was Hebrew grammar and Jewish exegesis that claimed attention. Christian scholars were not ashamed to be

6806-470: Was the most prominent Victorine Hebraist and his student, Herbert of Bosham (fl.1162–89), studied with Abraham ibn Ezra (d.c.1167) to acquire deeper grammatical understanding. The Cistercian tradition of Hebrew studies began with Nicholas Manjacoria . In the thirteenth century, Hebrew learning declined among native Christians, while converts from Judaism mainly used their knowledge polemically against their co-ethnics. The tradition of scholarly Hebraism

6889-410: Was written by an unknown individual living in the second century BC. Against Porphyry, Jerome identified Rome as the fourth kingdom of chapters two and seven, but his view of chapters eight and eleven was more complex. Jerome held that chapter eight describes the activity of Antiochus Epiphanes, who is understood as a "type" of a future antichrist; 11:24 onwards applies primarily to a future antichrist but

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