Liber de verbo mirifico.

REUCHLIN, JOHANNES

Johannes Amerbach

Basel

1494

BMC III, p. 755; Goff, R-154.

The first work in Latin devoted to the Kabbalah. Reuchlin’s first major publication was this tract on Jewish Kabbalah, an interest inspired by the Florentine humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. De verbo mirifico (“Miracle Making Word”) is written in the form of a dialogue: There are three participants - the Greek philosopher Sidonius, the Jew Baruchias, and Reuchlin himself, appearing under the pseudonym Capnio. These three meet accidentally at Pforzheim where they discuss the occult meaning of the Hebrew pentagrammaton “YHSVH,” the letters of the Hebrew form of the name Jesus. This early work is notable for claiming the prime importance of the Hebrew language but also explicit in its rejections of Judaism. Indeed, it sought to "Christianize" Jewish mysticism.