Gary A. Rendsburg
England as a Custodian of the Jewish Past
Most people are well aware of England’s role as a center of antiquarianism, and most are equally aware of England’s abiding interest in all matters biblical (witness Wycliffe, Tyndale, Authorized Version, etc.). Much less well known is England’s role as the custodian of the Jewish past. To put it plainly: No other country in the world possesses both the quality and the quantity of Hebrew manuscripts in its library collections – almost all of which were collected by Christian scholars (and not Jews): Thomas Bodley, John Selden, Edward Pococke, Robert Huntington, Benjamin Kennicott, et al. Why is this so? And how did it happen? This lecture will survey all of this material, and more, as it proceeds through the centuries, commencing with the Middle Ages and then crafting the narrative from Tudor times to the Victorian age.