Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
and
polemic
Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...
ist of the twelfth century. In response to attacks by the convert
Petrus Alphonsi
Petrus Alphonsi (died after 1116) was a Spanish physician, writer, astronomer and polemicist who was born and raised as a Jew and later in life converted to Christianity in 1106. He is also known just as Alphonsi, and as Peter Alfonsi or Pete ...
, he wrote the ''Sefer Milhamot Adonai'' or ''
Milhamoth ha-Shem
''Milhamoth ha-Shem'' () or ''Milhamoth Adonai'' (Wars of the Lord) is the title of several Hebrew polemical texts. The phrase is taken from the Book of the Wars of the Lord referenced in .
''Milhamoth ha-Shem'' of Salmon ben Jeroham, 10th century ...
'' ("Book of the Wars of the Lord"). This work was divided into twelve chapters, and contained, besides refutations of the
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
Gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...
and the
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire.
Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...
, in which he points out many apparent contradictions.
It was one of the earliest Jewish polemical works of medieval Europe.