Seite - 18 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 05/01

cal critics in 18th-century Germany. He was professor of Hebrew and Oriental languages at the Gymnasium illustre in Hamburg from 1727 and, as pointed out by recent scholarship, also a significant antiquary, orientalist, theologian and man of letters.31 Reimarus is often known via Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) as the herald of the historical Jesus. Schweitzer published his Von Reimarus zu Wre- de. Eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung (From Reimarus to Wrede. A History of the Research on the Life of Jesus) in 1906; the English translation was entitled The Quest of the Historical Jesus. According to Schweitzer and his successors, Reimarus clearly distinguished between the historical Jesus and the Christ of Christian dogmatic tradition and thus established an unbridgeable gap between the historical Jesus and the divine Christ. He also recognized that Jesus was a Jew and remained a Jew until his death, admitting Jesus’ original Jewishness. Reimarus’ works were published posthumously and anonymously by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), in fragments, between 1774 and 1778.32 Most im- portant in launching critical research on the subject was Von dem Zwecke Jesu und seiner Jünger (On the Goal of Jesus and His Disciples), published in 1778. Reimarus was familiar with Sefer Ḥizzuq Emunah, and we should consider the influence that this text may have exerted on his approach to the study of the New Testament and early Christianity. Reimarus had at his disposal the Tela Ig- nea Satanae composed by Wagenseil and also the bibliographic work Bibliothe- ca Hebraea by his master, the renowned Hebraist Johann Christoph Wolf (1683– 1739),33 along with various treatises attacking Isaac ben Abraham Troki’s text.34 Today the most accurate edition of Sefer Ḥizzuq Emunah is the work of the Silesian rabbi David Deutsch (1810–1873), who published a translation into Ger- man together with a revised Hebrew text based on the study of several man- uscripts. This edition was published first in 1865 at Breslau and then again in 1873 with the title Befestigung im Glauben (Strengthening in the Faith).35 Deutsch was an exponent of that Orthodox Judaism which opposed the ideas of Re- form Judaism, and he tried in various ways to fight the advance of the doctrines that were gradually spreading. On several occasions Deutsch spoke out in favor of Orthodoxy, protesting, for example, at the nomination as rabbi of Breslau of Abraham Geiger (1810–1874), a principal exponent of Reform Judaism, and composing a critical response to Geiger’s famous pamphlet Ansprache an meine 31 Mulsow 2011. 32 Alexander 1972; Parente 1977. 33 Wolf 1715–1733. 34 In his monumental library we can find works by Richard Kidder (1633–1703), A Demonstration of the Messiah, and Johann Müller (1598–1672), Judaismus oder Jüdenthumb. See the catalogue of Reimarus’ library: Scheteling 1768, 73, 113. 35 Deutsch 1873. The Hebrew text of this edition is the base text for all quotations in this article, translat- ed by me. 18 | Miriam Benfatto www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1