The Messianism of Nahmanides : Development from the Barcelona Disputation

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify the messianism of Nahmanides through analyzing his three works concerning the Barcelona Disputation in 1263. After discussing the issue of Jewish messiah with Dominican friars in the disputation, Nahmanides wrote The Disputation, Explanation on the Book of Isaiah (Chap. 52 and 53), and The Book of Redemption. These works concerned not only the issue-the correct interpretations of rabbinic materials on the messiah which were actually treated in the disputation-but also the basis that is a traditional controversy found in the tractate Sanhedrin of Babylonian Talmud. Therefore, I focus on his perception of this talmudic discourse. Nahmanides described different images of Jewish messiah and connected each of them to criticism against Christianity, the problem of the suffering of the righteous, and the mystical meaning of the biblical text. He tried to receive both sides of conflicting opinions in the Talmud, and moreover mentioned to another messianic view hidden under the talmudic discourse. For Nahmanides, the traditional Jewish messianism which contains various aspects was an object to study as a whole rather than to commit to one of them exclusively, and it reflects his way of perceiving sacred writings: On the one hand he made an effort to explain prophecies about the redemption in the Bible which seem to be different, and on the other hand he justified his critical standpoint against the Talmud by insisting that he stands nearer to the time of the final redemption than the Talmudic sages.