Sébastien Castellion

This thought provoking book deals with religious scholarship and important controversies of the early modern period, specifically those relating to the question of the salvation of the pagans and the afterlife. From the Reformation, through the Renaissance and on to the seventeenth and eighteenth century, this was a time when religious scholarship was updated with the discoveries of the New World and colonial expansion. These chapters present new work, shedding light on the interplay of philosophy and theology in key thinkers such as Montaigne, Leibniz, Bayle and Spinoza, but also in less known authors such as Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola and Sebastian Castellio.

Readers will discover analysis of the reshaping of specific theological issues, focussing on the reception of ancient philosophical traditions such as Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, Epicureanism, and scepticism. The authors investigate the relationship between the ethical models inspired by the heroes and philosophers of antiquity and the ‘new philosophy’. Above all, this book enables exploration of the ways in which discussions of the salvation and virtues of pagans intersected with the early modern reception of ancient philosophy, including a reassessment of the question of the moral status of unbelievers in the early modern period.

Students and faculty working on early modern intellectual history will find that this book both inspires and enriches their knowledge. Those with an interest in Renaissance humanism, the history of early modern philosophy and science, in theology, or the history of religion will also appreciate the new contributions that it makes.

The workshop forms part of the international and interdisciplinary research group Modern Jewish Studies which we have been setting up at the Lichtenberg-Kolleg, the Göttingen Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences of the Georg-August-University. It focuses on the networks of German exile scholars of Renaissance, who have left the country in 1930-40s and settled in safer European countries or in North America. Through the networks, German intellectuals could restart their careers and receive legal or financial support in the host country due to their connections with other intellectuals and organizations abroad. The workshop seeks to comprehend exile experience of German historians of Renaissance through the perspective of their collaborations in exile, personal and professional connections and epistolary networks.

My paper focused on the pathway of exile and academic career of German historian of philosophy and political thought, a student of Martin Heidegger and an expert on Portuguese and Italian humanism Elisabeth Feist Hirsch (1904-1998), who emigrated from Europe to the United States in 1937. Her case exemplifies the crucial role scholarly networks played in the rescue of German-Jewish intellectuals from Nazi persecution. The paper is based on Feist Hirsch's published works as well as archival materials. I am very grateful to Professor John Tedeschi, who kindly provided me with E. Feist Hirsch's unpublished correspondence and notes.

The workshop was organized with the financial and organizational support of the Lichtenberg-Kolleg, Göttingen Institute of Advanced Studies for the Humanities and Social Sciences.