Johann Stephan Rittangel () (1606 – 1652) was a German controversial writer and

Christian Hebraist A Christian Hebraist is a scholar of Hebrew texts who approaches the works from a Christian perspective. The main area of study is the Hebrew text of the Bible (known as the Old Testament to Christians and as the Tanakh to Jews), but Christians ha ...

Life

He was born at Forscheim near

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

. It is stated that he was born a Jew, became converted to Roman Catholicism, then became a Calvinist, and lastly joined the Lutheran Church. He became professor of Oriental languages at

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

.Jewish Encyclopedia, ''Rittangel, Johann Stephanus''.
/ref> Rittangel visited the Netherlands and England in 1641–2. He taught Hebrew in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, where he dressed like a rabbi, but others found him hard to place. He obtained a Hebrew manuscript of the '' Sefer Yezirah'' through the Mennonite merchant Gerebrand Anslo, for translation into Latin.Young, p. 45. He was in London in late 1641, meeting

Comenius John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinization (literature), Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech Philosophy, philosopher, Pedagogy, pedagogue and Theology, theologian who is considered the father of ...

and

John Dury John Dury (1596 in Edinburgh – 1680 in Kassel) was a Scottish Calvinist minister and an intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he move ...

. His English contacts were interested in his direct knowledge of the Karaites, and the

Samuel Hartlib Samuel Hartlib or Hartlieb (c. 1600 – 10 March 1662)
M. Greengrass, "Hartlib, Samuel (c. 1600–1662)", ''Oxford D ...

papers contain an account by Rittangel of them.

Johann Moriaen Johann Moriaen (born Nuremberg c.1591-1668) was a German alchemist and early chemist, known as an associate of Samuel Hartlib. He was active in recruiting for Hartlib's network of intellectuals, the Hartlib Circle, and communicating with them. He ...

of the Hartlib Circle saw to the publication of the ''Yezirah'' translation in Amsterdam in 1642. Rittangel's knowledge of the Karaites was reported to be from a visit in 1641 to a community at

Trakai Trakai (; see Trakai#Names and etymology, names section for alternative and historic names) is a city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania or just from the administrative limits of the Lithuanian capi ...

, according to

Mordecai ben Nissan Mordecai ben Nissan the Elder ( Heb. מרדכי בן ניסן הזקן, ''Mordechai ben Nissan ha-Zaken'') was a Karaite Jewish scholar who lived at Krasny Ostrów, Poland (now Kukeziv, Ukraine) in the second half of the 18th century. Education ...

. Rittangel died at Königsberg in 1652.

Works

Rittangel issued a number of translations of Hebrew works: * of the ''Sefer Yezira'', as ''Liber Jezirah qui Abrahamo Patriarchae adscribitur'', 1642; * of the

Passover Haggadah The Haggadah (, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to rec ...

, 1644, published also in his ''Libra Veritatis'' (Franeker, 1698); and * one of the earliest translations of Jewish prayers, under the title ''Hochfeyerliche Sollennitaeten, Gebethe und Collecten Anstatt der Opfer, Nebst Andern Ceremonien so von der Jüdischen Kirchen am Ersten Neuen-Jahrs-Tag Gebetet und Abgehandelt Werden Müssen'', Königsberg, 1652. His posthumous work ''Bilibra Veritatis'' was written to substantiate the claim that the

Targum A targum (, ''interpretation'', ''translation'', ''version''; plural: targumim) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ) that a professional translator ( ''mǝṯurgǝmān'') would give in the common language o ...

s prove the doctrine of the Trinity. This is also the subject of his ''Veritas Religionis Christianæ'' (Franeker, 1699).

References

*
Ch. 2 online at the Newton Project

Notes

External links

Online Books pageWorldCat pageWorldCat pageCERL pageEMLO page
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Rittangel, Johann Stephan 1606 births 1652 deaths Christian Hebraists German male writers