Description
Moses Aaron of Krakow, a Sabbatean rabbi, who would later call himself Johan Kemper, chose to convert to Christianity in the summer of 1696. When his mentor, the Lutheran cleric Johann Friedrich Heunisch, brought his mentee's wish before the council of the Free Imperial City of Schweinfurt, Kemper was asked to submit the reasons for his request together with a short autobiography in written form. The outcome was his Humble Account, which appeared in print shorty after Kemper was baptized. A close analysis of Kemper's Humble Account reveals a very subtle yet pronounced anti-Jewish narrative which makes use of well-established early modern stereotypes of Jews and Judaism on the one hand and standard theological arguments on the other hand. The autobiography is nevertheless more than a mediocre anti-Jewish polemical treatise, for it not only features one of the rare descriptions of the lesser known Sabbatean messianic upheaval of 1695, which was caused by the prophecies of a certain Rabbi Zadok of Grodno, but it also seems that some of Kemper’s own remarks have escaped the censorship of his friend and mentor and thus allow a glimpse into Kemper’s own perception of his conversion.
Start Date
17-8-2015 12:00 AM
Location
Ohio State University, Columbus
Included in
Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Social History Commons
Johan Kemper's (Moses Aaron's) Humble Account: A Rabbi between Sabbateanism and Christianity
Ohio State University, Columbus
Moses Aaron of Krakow, a Sabbatean rabbi, who would later call himself Johan Kemper, chose to convert to Christianity in the summer of 1696. When his mentor, the Lutheran cleric Johann Friedrich Heunisch, brought his mentee's wish before the council of the Free Imperial City of Schweinfurt, Kemper was asked to submit the reasons for his request together with a short autobiography in written form. The outcome was his Humble Account, which appeared in print shorty after Kemper was baptized. A close analysis of Kemper's Humble Account reveals a very subtle yet pronounced anti-Jewish narrative which makes use of well-established early modern stereotypes of Jews and Judaism on the one hand and standard theological arguments on the other hand. The autobiography is nevertheless more than a mediocre anti-Jewish polemical treatise, for it not only features one of the rare descriptions of the lesser known Sabbatean messianic upheaval of 1695, which was caused by the prophecies of a certain Rabbi Zadok of Grodno, but it also seems that some of Kemper’s own remarks have escaped the censorship of his friend and mentor and thus allow a glimpse into Kemper’s own perception of his conversion.
