Introduction
In 1533 the city council of Basel summoned German physician and notorious provocateur Alexander Seitz to a public hearing in which he had to defend his ideas on fornication. Seitz recently sparked outrage when he claimed that unfulfilled and repressed sexual desires can cause hysteria and poison one’s senses. He concluded that it was the duty of any true Christian to fulfill their sexual needs and to acknowledge the medical and theological significance of intercourse between unmarried people. Anyone who refuses to use his or her “natural instrument” (instrumentum naturale) in order to help someone who has fallen ill due to sexual lust is not only complicit in the murder of the patient’s body, but also in the murder and damnation of the victim’s soul. Seitz’s plea for sexual intercourse outside of marriage for the sake of medical and theological benefits did not convince the council; he was put in jail and expelled from the city shortly after.
Seitz’s controversial argument about sexual desire offers a unique glimpse into the correlation between faith, senses, and reason during the Renaissance period: The very idea of senses being poisoned, and illness caused by repressed sexual desires illustrates the vulnerability and unreliability of the senses; just like certain knowledge was considered wrong and dangerous (Mulsow 2012), senses could be wrong and dangerous too. Faith relied on experience, which in turn was based on senses and knowledge, both of which are based on reason. Accordingly, senses had to be taught and trained, so they could function properly and within reason. Yet, many early-modern polemics, ethnographic accounts, and similar texts dealing with Judaism share a characteristic and distinctive depiction of Jewish senses: they were considered deceived and corrupted, especially due to the alleged incorrect doctrines by rabbis. Martin Luther, for example, claimed that Jews were blind and deaf towards the true Messiah and the holy scripture, that they used their mouth only to have it filled with the devil’s dirt, and that their hearts are oblivious of God’s love and greatness. And Johannes Buxtorf suggested that due to their unholy eyes, Jews could not see their homeland even from the top of the highest mountains. A Jewish soul could only be saved if they were taught to properly use their senses – something many reformed thinkers and scholars thought impossible.
In this discussion we will explore Alexander Seitz’s Solutus cum soluta (1533), a plea in favor of fornication, and parts of Martin Luther’s infamous Vom Schem Hamphoras: Vnd vom Geschlecht Christi (1543). Both texts deal with senses and sensory organs in relation to salvation and the true meaning of faith and the holy scripture. We will use these two samples to further elaborate on an early-modern idea and understanding of senses and to discuss the extent to which these aspects are related and affect the perception of Renaissance Jewry. This will shed some light on how early-modern contemporaries tried to «make sense» of Judaism and culture and how it affected Jewish-Christian relations.
Source 1 Translation
Alexander Seitz: Doctor Allexander Sytzenn artikel uff besste bericht, Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt (StABS), Kirchen-Akten A 3, 33v–34r. (See also: Peter Ukena: Solutus cum soluta, Alexander Seitz’ Thesen über die Notwendigkeit des Geschlechtsverkehrs zwischen Unverheirateten, in: Gundolf Keil (Hg.): Fachprosa-Studien: Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Wissenschafts- und Geistesgeschichte. Berlin 1982, S. 278–290.)
A true account of Doctor Alexander Seitz’s articles
First, the gospel is sufficient to the true faith and salvation of the soul if it is observed accordingly.
Second, those who decease without remorse and sorrow over their sins pass away as nonbelievers and therefore put their souls at risk.
Third, when a person falls sick and faints due to their carnal desires they are robbed of their senses; thus, if they subsequently decease without being able to show remorse and sorrow over their sins, they pass away as nonbelievers, thus putting their souls at risk.
Fourth, if it is possible to help such persons in their terrifying, eternal misery without any negative consequences, it is everyone’s duty to do so with respect to Christian devotion and love. For love is the correct measure [winckel meß, guideline] and line which shall guide us Christians according to the evangelical virtue.
Fifth, foul matter inside a person causes toxic fumes which can make the person faint [lose control] against their hearts’ will. It takes away their reason so that often they lie for 72 hours without the unlearned realizing they are still alive, thus frequently they are buried alive like dumb cattle and without feelings of remorse or sorrow over their sins. Such persons should be helped either with natural medicine or instruments so that they attain reason again, in hope that they [the sick] will die in remorse and sorrow over their sins and in salvation of their souls thereafter. Whoever refuses to help is a murderer, not only of the body, but also of the soul.
Sixth, often a person passes out ex spermate retentor (a disease), a so-called suffocation matricum, [that is] a toxic disease. It takes away all the person’s reason and often they lie 72 hours without evidence of life, as we have been told, and so they die like dumb cattle, and frequently they are buried alive and without feelings of remorse or sorrow over their sins. Those who refuse to help this person are murderers, not only of the body, but also of the soul. If help is possible without any negative consequences, then Christian love and devotion requires that such sperm is being driven out. So that the [ill] person will gain reason again and hopefully will die thereafter in full awareness and remorse over their sins and thus in salvation of their bodies, but even more so in salvation of their souls.
Seventh, if there is no other medicine at hand other than one’s Instrumentum Naturale, adhanc rem, Christian love demands that [the ill person] shall not be denied the Instrumentum Naturale by any means so that the [ill person] may be helped and saved from their terrifying and dangerous threat towards their souls. |34r| I compel [bschwig, überreden] temporal life to happen anew [to extend life, to keep life going] if there are no negative consequences for anyone.
Example, if a divorced widow falls into such a dangerous state of a terrifying illness and is thus threatened towards her body and soul as a result of ex spermate retentor, and there is no other help close by other than a divorced widower with his Instrumentum naturale, then, with respect to Christian love, it is the very widower’s duty to help the woman’s body and soul for reasons as we have just learned. Otherwise he would be a murderer of a soul. These two persons are considered in numbers as Solutus cum soluta etc. […] which scholars do not understand as sin. And solutus cum soluta may not be appropriate for virgins as they are considered clause et non solute [sealed/closed and not widowers].
Ninth, all divine commands and the gospel support the salvation and not the corruption of the soul.
Tenth, often the divine command wanes during [or: in view of] the last distresses of the body, and even more so of the soul. Otherwise David would have been a thief and a sinner for he took the holy showbread off the altar. Even Christ and his followers would be thieves for they ate someone else’s heads of grain due to sheer hunger. That is why Christ scolded those who punished him [for stealing the grain] Pharisees. Oh Lord, how many Pharisees are we burdened with in these times.
Eleventh and last, the gospel does not prohibit Solutus cum soluta anywhere.
Source 2 Translation
Martin Luther: Vom Schem Hamphoras Vnd vom Geschlecht Christi. Wittenberg: Georg Rhau 1543, Piiiiv–Qiir. (English translation by Gerhard Falk: The Jew in Christian Theology. Jefferson 1992)
Furthermore, it is prohibited for us Christians to believe or view as right the interpretation and commentaries of the Rabbis concerning the scriptures on pain of losing the grace of God and eternal life. We may read it in order to see what kind of devil’s work they promote among themselves and protect ourselves from it. For thus says Moses, 5 Mos, 28, 28: “God will strike you with madness, blindness and a delirious heart.” This Moses did not say of the damned Goyim, but about his circumcised saints, the noble blood, nobility of heaven and earth, who call themselves Israel. Hereby however, God damns their understanding, explanations and interpretations through their own action as utter madness, blindness, delirium, all that which they belabored in scripture these fifteen hundred years God not only calls and judges false and lies but also deliberate blindness, delirious, mad thing. And how such a sentence reads, so it is also found in the work and in the deed, as you saw above in the saying of Jacob, 1 Mos. 49, 10, Hagg. 2, 7 about the Alma; Jer. 31, 22 about the Nekafa. In sum, they do the same in all pronouncements, as they talk of the Messiah and the right belief. A delirious person must rave.
Such decision is confirmed, Jes. 29, 13–14: “Because this people is too close to me with its mouth, and honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and fear me according to the law of men, which they teach, so I will deal with this people in a wondrous way, most miraculously and most peculiarly that the wisdom of their wise shall be swallowed up and the understanding of their cunning shall hide itself.” That was not said of us Goyim, but of the people of Israel, which did have excellent, wise, cunning people and prophets and have their books still; but because they became a false, hypocritical nation of liars, who praise God with the mouth but go to Hell with their hearts, they shall also lose and not have the wisdom and understanding of the prophets, but, as they pay back God with their mouth, (that is, with the husks) and serve the Devil with their hearts (that is, with the kernel) so that they shall have the letters (the empty shells) of the scripture, but the kernel, the true meaning, they shall not even suspect.
Just before that, in the same Chapter, V. 11, he says: “All prophets shall be promises for you like the words of a sealed book or letter, which one gives to read (someone) who is literate or not; (he) must say I cannot read what is from him, for it is sealed” etc. Such, the Work (scripture) also gives to the blind, mad Jews; for although they have the book, there is no understanding, either for the Messiah or the Law of Moses for the heathens and the poets, in well done verses, teach better things than the Jews, for they are still worth the most. There are many more statements in the prophets, particularly Psalm 69, 23f., which is introduced by St. Paul, Rom. 11, 9: “Their table could become a rope and a trap before them in vengeance. Their face must become dark so that they cannot see,” etc.
But 2 Cor. 3, 14, 15, 16, St. Paul paints them correctly as he speaks of the Jews since the time of Christ (for it cannot be understood by anybody else): “To this very day, when Moses is read, the cover remains on their hearts; for their senses are calloused. If however, they converted to the Lord, the cover would fall away.” Thus, the Lord himself proclaimed to them, Matth. 8, 12: “The children of the land will be thrown into darkness”; and Joh. 8, 21: “I leave forever and you will seek me and die in your sins, for where I go you cannot come.” And what drives St. Paul in all his letters, but that he curses the Jew dogs, and circumcision as totally blinded and calloused, of whom one must be on guard?
If a Christian seeks understanding in the scriptures from Jews despite such damnation and judgment, what else does he do but that he seeks the face of a blind man, cleverness from a madman, death from life, and grace and truth from the Devil? It is right that he is damned by God, although he is crazy, blind and mad just as are his masters. It is well done that one learns the German language from us, the Welch from Welchman, and learn the language of the country wherever they are; but our belief and understanding of the scripture they do not learn. Therefore we too should learn the language from them; but avoid their beliefs and understanding, damned by God.
Source 1 Original Text
Alexander Seitz: Doctor Allexander Sytzenn artikel uff besste bericht, Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt (StABS), Kirchen-Akten A 3, 33v–34r. (See also: Peter Ukena: Solutus cum soluta, Alexander Seitz’ Thesen über die Notwendigkeit des Geschlechtsverkehrs zwischen Unverheirateten, in: Gundolf Keil (Hg.): Fachprosa-Studien: Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Wissenschafts- und Geistesgeschichte. Berlin 1982, S. 278–290.)
Doctor Allexanders Sytzenn artikel uff besste bericht
Zum erstenn Das Evangelium ist gnügsam zum waren glaubenn und hail der seele so das gehaltten wirt
Zum andernn welcher mensch Sin end beschlußt on rw und laid uber sin sünd der sterb nit ab Im glaubenn deßhalb in perickel Siner Seele
Zum dritten wo ain mensch falt uß flaischlicher begirlichkait in onmacht Darin beroubt aller Siner sinnlichkait und also In Siner flaischlicher begirde abstirbt on rw und laid der sterbe ab on glaubenn In perickel Siner seele
Zum viertten wo dan disen menschen mag geholffen werden In disem erschrockenlichen ewigen fale on nachteil Des nechsten Das ist man im schuldig zethon uß cristenlicher trw und liebe So doch die lieb das recht winckel meß und schnür ist die unß Cristen fieren solle Nach der evangelischen tugent
Zum funfften wo in dem menschenn ain faule matery ligt Darvon uff erstett ain vergiffter damff darvon ain menschenn fallen muß In ain solche onmacht offt wider Sins herzen willens Darvon er beroubt wirt aller Siner vernunfft offt also ligt lxxij stund on allen merck zevor by den ongelertten Sins lebens Ja offt also lebendig vergraben wie ain onvernunfftig vihe on alle rw und laid uber Sine sünd Und dem menschen mochtt geholffen werden es sy mit naturlicher arzny oder instrumentenn wider zu vernunfft der hoffnung harnach zesterbenn mit rw und laid uber Sine sund zu hail Siner seele / Wer diese hilff abschlecht der ist ain morder nit aber allain des lybs sonder auch der seele.
Zum vj so fält offt der mensch in onmacht ex spermate retento (ain kranckheit) suffocatio matricum genant ain solche vergifftige krankhait Darin der mensch
beraupt wirt aller Siner vernunfft und offt ligt lxxij stund on alle merck Sins lebens wie gehort und also hinstirbt wie ain onvernunfftig vihe Ja offt und vil lebendig vergraben werden on alle rw und laid uber Sine sünd / wer Disem menschen hillf ab schlächt Der ist ain morder nit allein des lybs / sonder auch der seele / Zevor doch so solich hilff geschehenn mag on nachtail des nechsten / Sonder aber die cistenlich lieb und trw erfordert solich sperma uß zetrybenn Domit dem menschen wider geholffen werde der hoffnung harnach ze sterben by vernunfft mit rw und laid uber Sine sunde zu hail Sins lybs noch vil mer Siner seele
Zum vij So nun kain andere erzny vorhanden mochte sin dan allain das Instrumentum Naturale / adhanc rem / do erfordert die cristenliche liebe das kains wegs disem menschen sol versagt werden solich Instrumentum naturale uff das Im domit geholffen und errett moch werden uß disem erschockenlichen und gferlichen perickel Siner seele |34r| Ich bschwig doch des zytlichen lebens so doch abermals geschehenn mag on nachtail des ains ieden anderenn menschenn
Exempel so ain gschaidene witue fiele in solichen gferlichen erschockenliche kranckhait zu verderbung an lyb und seele wie gehort ex spermate retento / und kain andere hilff mocht gehabt werden […] als in paroxismo dan duch ain gschaiden wituer mit sinem Instrumentum naturale / so ist der selbig wituer schuldig uß crisentlicher lieb diser frowenn zehelffen an lyb und seele uß vrsachen wie gehort ist / Oder Er ist ain seel morder / Diese zwu personen werdent auch begriffen In der zal Solutus cum soluta etc. das by den gelertten nit […] sund gehaltten wirt / Und mag solututs cum soluta nit uff […] die jungfrowenn bedutet werden quia […] sund clause et non solute
Zum ix so sind alle gottliche gepott und das Evangelium zu hail (der seelen) und nit zu verderbnuß der seele
Zum x wycht gar offt das gotlich gepot in den letsten nötten des lybs / noch vil mer der seele / Oder David were gewesen ain Dieb und hett gesundiget do Er das hailig schowbrot vom altar name Ja Cristus were selbs mit Sinen junger ain diebdieb gewesenn do Sie ainem anderenn Sine ahernn ab assen zeruk uß hungers nötten Darum Cristus alle die für phariseer schalt die Ine darum strafftten / Ach got mit wievil solch phariseer sind wir zu diser zyt auch uberladen
Zum xj und zum letsten wirt nienantz gefunden Im Evangelio das verpott Solutus cum soluta
Source 2 Original Text
Martin Luther: Vom Schem Hamphoras: Vnd vom Geschlecht Christi. Matthei am j. Capitel. Wittenberg: Georg Rhau 1543, Piiiiv–Qiir. (VD16 L 7062)
Zum andern / Jst vns Christen verboten / bey verlust Göttlicher gnaden / vnd ewigen lebens / der Rabinen verstand vnd glosen / jnn der Schrifft / zu gleuben / oder fur recht zuhalten. Lesen muegen wirs / zu sehen / was sie verdampt Teuffels werck bey sich treiben / vns dafur zu hueten. Denn so spricht Mose / Deutero. am 28. Gott wird dich schlahen mit wahnsinn / blindheit vnd rasenden hertzen. Solchs hat Mose nicht von den verfluchten Goÿm gesagt / sondern von seinen beschnitten Heiligen / dem Edlen Blut / Fuersten Himels vnd der Erden / die |Qr| sich Jsrael nennen. Hiemit ist aber von Gott selbs verdampt / all jr verstand / glose vnd auslegung in der Schrifft / als eitel wansinn / blindheit / raserey / Das alles / was sie die 1500. Jar in der Schrifft geerbeit haben / das spricht vnd vrteilet Gott selbs / nicht allein falsch vnd luegen / Sondern auch eitel blindheit / rasend / wansinnig ding. Vnd wie solch vrteil lautet / so findet sichs auch jnn dem werck / vnd jnn der that / wie du droben gesehen hast im Spruch Jacob / Ge. 49 Haggei 2. Daniel 9. im Schem Hamphoras / Jsaie 9. von der Alma / Jere. 31. von der Nekefa. Summa / dergleichen thun sie jnn allen Spruechen / so von Messia vnd rechtem Glauben reden. Ein rasend mensch mus rasen.
Solch vrteil bestetigt Jsaias am 29. Darumb / das dis Volck zu mir nahet / mit seinem munde / vnd mit seinen lippen mich ehret / Aber jhr hertz fern von mir ist / vnd mich fuerchten / nach menschen gebot / die sie leren / So wil ich auch mit diesem Volck wuenderlich vmbgehen / auffs wuenderlichst vnd seltzamest / das die weisheit seiner Weisen / sol vntergehen / vnd der verstand seiner klugen / sol sich verbergen. Das ist auch nicht von vns Goÿm / sondern vom Volck Jsrael gesagt / welchs treffliche weise kluge leute vnd Propheten gehabt / vnd derselben buecher noch haben / Aber weil sie ein falsch / heuchel / luegenvolck sind worden / die Gott mit dem maul rhuemen / vnd mit dem hertzen zum Teuffel |QV| faren / sollen sie die weisheit vnd verstand der Propheten auch verlieren / vnd nicht haben / Sondern wie sie Gott mit dem maul (das ist / mit den huelsen) bezalen / vnd mit dem hertzen (das ist / mit dem kern) dem Teuffel dienen / So sollen sie widerumb auch / die buchstaben (die ledigen schalen) in der Schrifft haben / Aber den kern / den rechten verstand / sollen sie nicht riechen.
Hart dafur / im selben Capitel / spricht er / Es sollen euch aller Propheten weissagung sein / wie die wort eines versiegeten Buchs oder brieues / Welchen man gebe zu lesen / der da lesen könne oder nicht / mus sagen / Jch kan sein nicht lesen / den er ist versiegelt etc. Solches gibt auch das werck / jnn den blinden rasenden Jueden / Denn sie das Buch wol haben / Aber da ist kein verstand / weder vom Messia / noch Gesetz Mosi / jnn einigem Vers / das die Heiden vnd Poeten / viel besser ding leren / weder die Jueden / da sie auch am besten sind. Der Sprueche sind viel mehr jnn den Propheten / Sonderlich der / Psal. 69. den S. Paulus einfueret / Rom. II. Jhr tisch muesse fur jhnen zum stricke werden / zur vergeltung vnd zur falle / Jhr angesicht muesse finster werden / das sie nicht sehen etc.
Aber 2. Cor. 3. malet sie S. Paulus ja recht / da er von diesen Jueden / sind der zeit Christi her / redet (denn es kann von niemand anders verstanden werden) Bis auff diesen heutigen tag / wenn |Qiir| Mose gelesen wird / bleibt die decke vber jhrem hertzen / Denn jre sinne sind verstockt. Wenn sie sich aber zu dem HErrn bekerten / wuerde die decke abgethan. Also hat jn der Herr selbs auch verkuendigt / Matth. 9. Die kinder des Reichs / werden jns finsternis hinaus geworffen werden. Vnd Johan. 8. Jch gehe dahin / vnd jr werdet mich suchen / vnd jnn ewren sunden sterben / Denn da ich hingehe / koennet jhr nicht hin komen. Vnd was treibt S. Paulus jnn allen Episteln / denn das er die Jueden / hunde / zerschneittung / vnd gantz verblend vnd verstockt / schilt / fur denen man sich hueten solle?
Wenn nu vber solch vrteil vnd verdamnis der Jueden / ein Christ / will bey den Jueden verstand jnn der Schrifft suchen / was thut der anders / denn der bey einem Blinden / das gesicht / bey dem Rasenden / klugheit / bey dem Tod / das leben / bey dem Teuffel / gnade vnd warheit / sucht. Recht geschicht jm / so er auch wahnsinnig / blind vnd rasend wird / wie seine Meister sind / von Gott verdampt. Das man die Sprache vnd Gramatica von jhnen lernet / das ist fein vnd wol gethan / gleich wie sie auch thun / lernen von vns die Deudsche Sprache / Von Walen die Welsche / Vnd wo sie sind / da lernen sie des Landes Sprache. Aber vnsern glauben / vnd verstand der Schrifft lernen sie nicht. Also sollen wir auch die Sprache von jhnen lernen / Aber jhren glauben vnd verstand / von Gott verdampt / meiden.