Dissertatio de Ex-Judaeis Christianis.

WEBER, GOTTFRIED

Salfeld

Berlin

1686-1698

Latin, with quotations in German and Hebrew.

Titled: “A Study of ex-Jewish Christians; Specifically, a Catalogue of Prominent Jews who have Foresworn the Jewish Religion and Embraced Christianity.” A bio-bibliographic dictionary of exceptional rarity and historical value, one documented copy only, located in the Bavarian State Library, Munich. Brings together data and supposed data on forty converts or supposed converts, from Alphonso de Spina to Benedict Spinoza. Some are well-known, such as Pfefferkorn and Margaritha, but many are merely reputed to have been of Jewish origin or to have converted to Christianity--Josephus, for example, or, more surprisingly, Hillel the Patricarch!