Incontri inconsueti. Modernisti tra gli ebrei e spiritualità contemporanee

Whereas the study of Catholic modernism has been thoroughly pursued, the relationship between Jews and Catholics remains an overlooked historical topic. This article explores intellectual relations between some Italian Jewish intellectuals and Catholic modernists, against the backdrop of the rising interest in the study of religion, namely Judaism, early Christianity, and the Bible, which took place in Europe from the early nineteenth century. This article sheds some light on Jewish scholars such as Giorgio Levi della Vida and politician, Luigi Luzzatti, whose ties with Catholic modernists were extensive and deep. It also offers an attempted reconstruction of a plausible historical connection between Jews and Catholics, focusing on the controversial topic of the ‘historical Jesus’.