Messianic Redemption in Caspar Calvoer’s “Gloria Christi” (Leipzig 1710)

This lecture will analyze the integration of kabbalistic concepts in Caspar Calvoer`s famous treatise "Gloria Christi" of 1710. It examines the complex constellation of mystical messianic ideas from Jewish tradition within a dogmatic Christian document, which even comprises a "catechism for the Jews". Such a intercultural transfer also allows for an appropriation of feminine elements with regard to divine soteriology, Christology and redemption in Christian thought. What literary, theological and systemic structures and strategies do we discern in Calvoer`s book which enforce his so-called missionary activity, but which is not mainly targeted at a Jewish audience, but rather tries to pacify inner-Christian debates in the post-Reformation era? Are we able to unveil similar attempts during this period, which try to implement kabbalistic thought in order to overcome confessional divisions? We will also have a closer look at Calvoer`s methods of translation and rewriting Jewish sources within a Christian context. What dynamics is achieved via his specific mode of translation? How does this treatise fit into the missionary ambitions of Heinrich Callenberg’s Institute at Halle and what distinguishes Calvoer from other books of the same genre? In a further step we will have to ask, in what way the adaptation of kabbalistic ideas with regard to messianism in Christian documents challenges Scholem’s perception of “the messianic idea in Judaism” as a rather public and apocalyptic event in contrast to Christian messianic perspectives as interior and individual. A triangulation of methodological tools from the sociology of religion, Jewish Studies and historical analysis will be necessary in order to make such an evaluation possible and fruitful. Investigations of this kind will enable us to gain a more nuanced picture of Jewish-Christian transfer during the early modern period and its multilayered aspects.