“Such an Illumination Cannot Occur”: Anthonius Margaritha, the Reformation, and the Polemic against the Jews

On 16March 1530, a book that would soon have a profound impact on Christian-Jewish relations was printed in Augsburg. Der gantz Jüdisch glaub (The Entire Jewish Faith) was, according to its title page, the work of a local teacher of Hebrew, Anthonius Margaritha; in a matter of weeks, some of the most influential figures in the Holy Roman Empire would be familiar with his name. In June – after the book had been printed for a second time – Margaritha was summoned, at the behest of Emperor Charles V, to defend his writing in a public debate. The following year, the book was printed twice more, in Augsburg and in Leipzig, and through the end of the sixteenth century, another three or four times, in Cologne and in Frankfurt am Main.1