De Arte Cabalistica ["On the Art of Kabbalah"], by Johannes Reuchlin. Hagenau: Thomas Anshelm, 1517 (print details from colophon). Latin, with some Hebrew and Greek. First edition.

First edition of the seminal work on the subject of Kabbalah as understood from a Christian perspective, by the German scholar Johannes Reuchlin. The title page features a large woodcut of Reuchlin's coat of arms: a knight's helmet bearing the inscription "ARACAP / NIONIS" ("Ara Capnionis"). Decorative woodcut initial; two illustrations of mystical symbols appear in the margins of one of the pages.

In this book, Reuchlin develops ideas he first introduced in his previous work, "De Verbo Mirifico." It is written as a three-way conversation involving the Jewish kabbalist Simeon ben Elazar (a fictitious character whose name is meant to be reminiscent of Simeon Bar Yohai, who, according to Jewish tradition, was the author of the "Zohar, " the foundational book on Kabbalah), a Pythagorean philosopher, and a Muslim. In the spirit of the Renaissance, in the present book Reuchlin strives to return to "the basics" as he perceives them, namely Jewish Kabbalah and Pythagorean philosophy, whose origins he traces all the way back to Moses. He then takes these "basics" and interweaves them into Christian theology.

This book does not have a missionary agenda and was never in fact aimed at Jews; rather, Reuchlin directs his attention to his Christian co-religionists, attempting to familiarize them with the sources of their own religion and thus deepen their faith. The term "Kabbalah" here is not at all restricted to the mystical and esoteric aspects of the Jewish faith, but rather to Jewish sources in general; the approach adopted in the book derives broadly and indiscriminately from extra-Biblical Jewish traditions, in the belief that the Christian faith is rendered incomplete and poorer in the absence of exposure to these realms of Jewish thought, namely the Oral Torah (the Talmud and midrashic literature) and esoteric material that includes the Kabbalah, the "Zohar", the writings of Rabbi Yehuda HeHasid [Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg], Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, Rabbi Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, and others, and mystical letter combinations and "Gematria" (Hebrew numerology). This concept is founded on the belief that, like the Bible itself, all of the above were delivered to Moses at Mt. Sinai.

Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522), among the most prominent of German humanist scholars in the Renaissance period. Outspoken proponent of an attitude of tolerance toward the Jews. Invested much of his energies in enriching his Christian co-religionists with the wisdom of Jewish sacred writings and Greek philosophy, and in teaching them the Hebrew and Greek languages. Studied Hebrew under Jakob ben Jehiel Loans and under Rabbi Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno of Cesena. Continued with advanced studies in Kabbalah in Italy, and was influenced by the writings of the Italian philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494). Reuchlin was considered to be among the fathers of the Reformation, even though he personally placed himself in opposition to that movement, and remained steadfast in his loyalty to Catholicism and the Vatican throughout his life.

In the famous debate that erupted between him and the German Catholic theologian and convert from Judaism, Johannes (Josef) Pfefferkorn, Reuchlin emphatically denounced the burning of the Talmud. Consequently, and because of his insistence on the need to study and teach the Jewish religious texts, he found himself targeted by the Church's institutions. His pamphlet titled "Augenspiegel" ("Eyeglasses") was banned and condemned by force of an official decree issued by Pope Leo X on June 23, 1520.