Unerwartete Absichten - Genealogie des Reuchlinkonflikts

In the conflict surrounding Johannes Reuchlin and the treatment of the Jewish books, several developments were compressed into a node in the history of ideas at the crossing from the Middle Ages to the early modern age. So arose the questions of how to handle non-Christian knowledge, how to deal with a rampant anti-Semitism and the spread of humanism to the north of the Alps. In addition, the search for the original union of faith and knowledge saw a Christian kabbalah develop, while new forms of publication emerged through the printing press. The formation of a wider, more learned public and finally the crisis of institutions, which up till then had been a stabilizing influence on scholarship, were further factors. Jan-Hendryk de Boer examines these mutually dependent developments which opened up unexpected scope of action for the protagonists present around 1500. From his genealogical analysis, the question emerges as to with which methodological and theoretical tools a history of ideas is nowadays possible.