The founders of the Wissenschaft des Judentums had a keen interest in Jewish erudition during the Renaissance, especially in Italy. Leopold Zunz, for example, regarded the work of Azaria de’ Rossi as the point of departure for the historical-critical method upon which he based his “Science of Judaism”. In the past two centuries, Jewish writings from the Renaissance have been edited and reinterpreted. In the areas of historiography, philosophy and Kabbala, we have important new findings from research conducted in recent years. For a short time now, scholars active in the field of Judaic studies in Germany have also been working in this area.

This volume presents the results of a conference of younger scholars organized in Wittenberg by the Leopold Zunz Centre for the Study of European Judaism. It includes papers on the Bible and its exegesis, the literature of biblical commentary, traditions of Kabbala in its Jewish and Christian forms, and history and historiography.