Page - 17 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

lished Sefer Ḥizzuq Emunah as well as other anti-Christian works. Published in 1681, the Tela Ignea Satanae (The Fiery Arrows of Satan), a title that makes ref- erence to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (6:16: “In addition to all these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one”) is a well-known anthology of anti-Christian Jewish works trans- lated into Latin.25 This two-volume work contains six Jewish texts: the Carmen Memoriale of R. Lipmannus, the Old Book Nizzachon by an unknown author, the Acts of Debate of R. Jechielis with a certain Nicolaus, the Acts of Debate of R. Mo- ses Nachmanes with Brother Paul Christian and Brother Raymundus Martinis, the book Chissuk Emuna of R. Isaacus and the book Toledot Yeshu.26 Wagenseil wrote of these texts that he “thrust them into light, having col- lected them and dug them out of hidden places in Europe and Africa, and bring- ing them to the faith of Christian theologians, that they more properly consider those things, which may help to convert that wretched Jewish race”.27 Wagen- seil strongly believed that it was necessary to devote particular energies to the refutation of the text by Isaac ben Abraham, claiming there was no more dan- gerous Jewish work that confirmed the errors of the Jews. Sefer Ḥizzuq Emu- nah, which Wagenseil described as “sinister and infernal childbirth conceived at half of the last century”,28 was considered particularly dangerous because it was easily accessible and relatively recent. Some of the translations, such as those into French, Spanish and Latin, pro- vided Christians with access to the text. The Tela Ignea Satanae attracted the attention of a number of defenders of Christianity, who saw the work by Isaac ben Abraham Troki as a strong attack on their faith. While the manuscript form of Sefer Ḥizzuq Emunah continued to circulate for centuries in both Jewish and Christian worlds, the printed version arrived in the libraries of European intellec- tuals.29 They included Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768), often acknowl- edged to have been amongst the first scholars to have reconstructed the life and mission of Jesus of Nazareth from a historical viewpoint.30 Reimarus was a distinguished Enlightenment philosopher and one of the most significant bibli- 25 It is possible to read Tela Ignea Satanae thanks to Google Books. See https://books.google.it/books?id= Ti5iAAAAcAAJ&hl=it&pg=PP9#v=onepage&q&f=false [accessed 23 July 2018]. 26 On Toledot Yeshu see Daniel Barbu’s contribution in this issue. 27 Wagenseil 1681, title page. The translation from Latin is mine. 28 Wagenseil 1681, page not numbered [1]. 29 Some examples are Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), Jacques Basnage De Beauval (1653–1723), Anthony Collins (1676–1729), Voltaire (1694–1778) and Paul-Henri Thiery d’Holbach (1723–1789). For further information see Benfatto 2017. 30 The starting point of the “Quest of the Historical Jesus” is traditionally attributed to Reimarus, though recent scholarly inquiry has called this into question. See Pesce 2011, 2017a, 2017b; Facchini 2018; Ber- mejo Rubio 2009. The contribution by Reimarus to biblical philology and European intellectual thought has been scrutinized in great detail. See Mulsow 2011; Groetsch 2015. The Hidden Jesus | 17www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1