Don Isaac Abravanel: An Intellectual Biography

Description

Don Isaac Abravanel (1437–1508) was one of the great inventors of Jewish modernity. A merchant, banker, and court financier, a scholar versed in both Jewish and Christian writings, a preacher and exegete, a prominent political actor in royal entourages and Jewish communities, Abravanel was one of the greatest leaders and thinkers of Iberian Jewry in the aftermath of the expulsion of 1492. This book, the first new intellectual biography of Abravanel in twenty years, depicts his life in three cultural milieus—Portugal, Castile, and post-expulsion Italy—and analyzes his major literary accomplishments in each period. Abravanel was a traditionalist with innovative ideas, a man with one foot in the Middle Ages and the other in the Renaissance. An erudite scholar, author of a monumental exegetical opus that is still studied today, and an avid book collector, he was a transitional figure, defined by an age of contradictions. Yet, it is these very contradictions that make him such an important personality for understanding the dawn of Jewish modernity. Contents Preface Acknowledgments Part 1: Don Isaac Abravanel in Portugal (1437–1483) 1. The Kingdom of Portugal and the Abravanel Family 2. Isaac Abravanel and Iberian Court Culture 3. Isaac Abravanel as a Jewish Leader in His Hebrew Epistles 4. Isaac Abravanel: Philosopher and Theologian 5. Don Isaac’s Fall from Grace in Portugal Part 2: Don Isaac Abravanel in Castile (1483–1492) 6. Don Isaac Abravanel Immigrates to Castile 7. Isaac Abravanel’s Historical and Literary Approach to the Books of the Former Prophets 8. The Figure of the Leader in Abravanel’s Commentary on the Former Prophets 9. Don Isaac’s Republicanism 10. Success at the Courts of the Catholic Monarchs Part 3: Don Isaac Abravanel in Italy (1492–1508) 11. Abravanel’s Arrival in Naples 12. Commentary on Kings as a Response to the Expulsion 13. Solomon: The Ideal King 14. The Temple: Construction, Glory, Destruction 15. The Military Crisis in Italy at the End of the Fifteenth Century 16. A Defense of Judaism in the Midst of the Storm 17. Messianism 18. The Last Years in Venice (1503–1508) Afterword: Don Isaac Abravanel in the Twentieth Century Notes Bibliography Index