Contested Wisdom: The Renaissance Rediscovery of Jewish Tradition and History of Philosophy in Lutheran Universities (17th–18th Century)

This article investigates how the Jewish tradition, rediscovered during the Renaissance by figures such as Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Johannes Reuchlin, was received and reinterpreted in the context of Lutheran universities between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Focusing on Protestant historiography of philosophy—particularly in the German Enlightenment—the study examines how Jewish thought was both acknowledged as a source of ancient wisdom and simultaneously marginalized in the effort to construct a Christian genealogy of philosophy. Through an analysis of authors like Johann Franz Buddeus and Johann Jacob Brucker, the article reveals the tensions between the admiration for ancient Jewish wisdom and the theological imperative to affirm the superiority of reformed Christianity. Ultimately, it sheds light on the complex process of the de-Judaization of European intellectual history and the ambivalent role Jewish tradition played in early modern philosophical discourse.