"An Salomon fuerit scepticus?". Filosofia ebraica, scetticismo e pensiero cristiano nella Germania del XVIII secolo.

This article explores the construction and transformation of the concept of “Jewish philosophy” within early modern Christian thought, with a particular focus on its association with skepticism in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Germany. Bartolucci examines how Christian scholars, notably within Lutheran academic circles, appropriated and redefined Jewish philosophical traditions—especially through the figure of King Solomon—to engage in broader theological and epistemological debates. The study begins by tracing the roots of Christian Hebraism from the Renaissance and its entanglement with prisca theologia, emphasizing how figures such as Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola laid the groundwork for incorporating Jewish texts into the genealogy of ancient wisdom. It then follows the development of this tradition into the Protestant academic world, particularly at the University of Halle, where thinkers like Christian Thomasius and Johann Franz Budde used Jewish sources both to critique Lutheran orthodoxy and to advocate for new epistemological models. Central to the article is Jacob Friedrich Reimmann’s provocative thesis that King Solomon was a skeptic, as outlined in his essay An Salomon fuerit scepticus? (1704). The article shows how this claim sparked controversy among contemporaries and was challenged by more orthodox figures such as Joachim Lange and Reinhardt Heinrich Roll, who viewed skepticism—particularly in its association with Jewish traditions—as a threat to Christian dogma. The article contextualizes Reimmann’s argument within the broader intellectual milieu of early Enlightenment Germany, where the status of skepticism, the interpretation of revelation, and the use of Jewish sources were actively debated. Ultimately, the article argues that the Christian construction of “Jewish skepticism” functioned as both a tool of theological critique and a reflection of shifting modes of historical and philosophical inquiry. This case study reveals how early modern Christian thinkers not only studied but also strategically reimagined Jewish thought in their efforts to reshape their own religious and philosophical identities