The Kabbalistic “Teaching Panel” of Princess Antonia Divine Knowledge for Both Experts and Laity*

Church History Church History and and Religious Culture 98 (2018) 56–90 Religious Culture brill.com/chrc

Elke Morlok Goethe-University Frankfurt a.M. [email protected]

Abstract

This article explores the complex interweaving of kabbalistic and Christological concepts within the kabbalistic “teaching panel” (Lehrtafel) of Princess Antonia of Würt- temberg. The essay discusses the artwork in the context of visual representations of the ten sefirot, the divine attributes or vessels in Jewish mysticism. Executed as an altarpiece for the church in Bad Teinach in Southern Germany, the work integrates the sefirot into a pansophic concept that served devotional and educational purposes with a salvific goal. The article argues that, with the Lehrtafel, Antonia and her teachers created a devotional object that could be accessed by both regular Christian laity and experts who possessed deeper knowledge of Kabbalah.

Keywords

Christian Kabbalah – sefirot – lay theology – symbolism – Philosophia Perennis – Arbor Sephirotica

* This article is being published within the framework of the loewe-funded Hessian Ministry for Science and Art research hub “Religious Positioning: Modalities and Constellations in Jewish, Christian and Muslim Contexts” at the Goethe-University Frankfurt and the Justus- Liebig-University Giessen. All photographs of the altarpiece have been taken by Friedrich Wirth (Germany), with whose kind permission they are reproduced in this article.

1 The Trinity Church in Bad Teinach and Princess Antonia of Württemberg (1613–1679)

Situated in the Black Forest hamlet of BadTeinach, the LutheranTrinity Church (Dreifaltigkeitskirche) houses a jewel of German Baroque art, the so-called “teaching panel” (Lehrtafel) of Princess Antonia of Württemberg. The Lehrtafel is actually not just one panel, but a monumental altarpiece, consisting of a large outer painting as well as a large inner painting and two side panels. The outer doors of the altarpiece could be opened on holidays to reveal the central inner painting which was more opulent than the other paintings of the triptych.1 Employed to educate and aid laity in devotions, the most common scenes depicted on such altarpieces were the last supper, the crucifixion, Christ’s ascension or his resurrection, but the retables could also include allegories of Christian virtues and widespread Christian symbols. The late Renaissance Trinity Church in Bad Teinach contains other (lesser) works besides Princess Antonia’s “teaching panel,” but it is the unusual altarpiece that has captured the attention of both scholars and regular visitors to the church from the seventeenth century up to the present day. What makes the artwork so special is, above all, its combination of Christian motifs with kabbalistic ideas and symbols from the Jewish tradition. Old and New Testament subjects are conceived and visualized as one unity, an expression of the early Baroque influence of pansophic thought. Yet there are other stylistic and historical factors that set the artwork apart. Most of the faces of people in both the outer and inner paintings can be identified with members of the house of Württemberg.2 In their iconography, the retables also drew on

1 The church was erected by the reigning duke Eberhard iii of Württemberg (1614–1674) in the years 1662–1665 after the Thirty Years’ War (1613–1643), during which the family had lived in exile for four years in Strasbourg. The duke and his sister, Princess Antonia had lost their parents at a young age. The family could only return to Württemberg in 1638. The church served as vestry for the ducal family and their guests, which used to spend their summer holidays in the spa town of Bad Teinach. For a detailed description of the church and the teaching panel from the perspective of an art historian, see Eva Johanna Schauer, “Dramaturgia Pietatis im Württemberg des 17. Jahrhunderts: Prinzessin Antonia und ihre kabbalistische Lehrtafel” (Diss., Hannover, 2003). On the kabbalistic material, see mainly Otto Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte. Die kabbalistische Lehrtafel der Prinzessin Antonia in Bad Teinach (Metzingen, 1996). 2 Reinhard Gruhl, Die kabbalistische Lehrtafel der Antonia von Württemberg: Studien und Doku- mente zur protestantischen Rezeption jüdischer Mystik in einem frühneuzeitlichen Gelehrten- kreis (Boston / Berlin, 2016), 2.

Church History and Religious Culture 98 (2018) 56–90Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 09:54:33AM via free access 58 morlok various disciplines of the time, from oriental studies to theology to the natural sciences and even mathematics, making the altarpiece a truly unique snapshot of Early Modern intellectual and religious culture.3 The altarpiece’s conceptualization has been attributed to Princess Antonia of Württemberg and her teachers. Antonia, the elder sister of Duke Eber- hard iii, was obviously fascinated by kabbalistic symbols and their power. Johann Jakob Strölin (†1663)4 and Johann Lorenz Schmidlin (1626–1692),5 grandfather of the well known Pietist Johann Albrecht Bengel, were her teachers in kabbalistic and Hebrew learning. The artwork itself was constructed between 1659 to 1663 according to their sketches and finally realized by the court painter Johann Friedrich Gruber (1620–1681) on the occasion of the princess’ 50th birthday in 1663.6 The altarpiece was kept in Stuttgart for ten years and then installed in the church in Bad Teinach, where it occupies the entire right side of the altar area at the southern wall of the small church.7 On 4 June 1673 it was inaugurated with a sermon by Balthasar Raith (1616–1683), pastor and professor of theology and oriental languages in Tübingen. Raith’s sermon centered around the work’s imagery and was immediately put into print.8 As early as 1662, Antonia’s tutor Schmidlin had composed an encyclopedic poem on the “teaching panel” with the title Pictura Docens,9 explaining the

3 Ibid., 55. 4 Ibid., 33–125. On Strölin’s Turris Antoniae as matrix for both Schmidlin and later Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702–1782), who wrote an elaborated commentary on the altarpiece, see Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel, 33–37. 5 On the complex relationship between Schmidlin’s rhymed description of the “Lehrtafel” with the title Pictura Docens, as well as his relationship with Antonia and Strölin, cf. Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel, 28–53; Johann Lorenz Schmidlin, Pictura Docens, ed. and trans. Fritz Felgentreu and Widu-Wolfgang Ehlers (Stuttgart, 2006). For the source material for the altarpiece, the correspondence between Schmidlin, Strölin and other scholars of this period, see the collection of 40 documents in Codex Hist. 551, Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart. 6 The painting was not created by Gruber alone. The last third of the outer artwork was executed by a less gifted artist. See Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 226. 7 The shrine measures 5.1×6.5 meters. 8 See Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 4–7. The text of the sermon with critical notes has been printed: ibid., 239–253. On Raith, see ibid., 254 n. 1. 9 Friedrich Häussermann, “Pictura Docens: ein Vorspiel zu Fr. Chr. Oetingers Lehrtafel der Prinzessin Antonia von Württemberg,” Blätter für württembergische Kirchengeschichte 66/67 (1966/7), 65–153; see also above, note 5.

Church History and ReligiousDownloaded Culture from 98 Brill.com10/05/2021 (2018) 56–90 09:54:33AM via free access the kabbalistic “teaching panel” of princess antonia 59 symbolic background of this pansophic artwork as the summa of Christian soteriology. The poem discusses the kabbalistic sefirot, or attributes of God, through a Christian lens, assuming that Jewish Kabbalah had predicted the Christian faith. This was a commonly held belief of Early Modern Christian Kabbalists and Antonia obviously held to this notion as well, since the harmo- nization of Christianity and Kabbalah was a major theme in the writings that she has left behind. The combination of Christian Kabbalah and Lutheran theology present in the altarpiece also found expression in Antonia’s prayers and poems.10 In a social context dominated by men, Antonia joined a very select few female contemporaries in learning Hebrew.11 She also carried on a correspondence with the scholar Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654), who was deeply involved in kabbalistic and Rosicrucian theology and who put the feminine in the center of his own theology.12 Although Antonia and Andreae exchanged letters, it is difficult to discern what role he may have played in influencing Antonia or her “teaching panel.”13 Along with her sisters, Anna Johanna and Sibylla, Antonia dedicated herself to the study of the arts and sciences, but despite achieving a high level of education and competency in different languages, Antonia regarded herself as an amateur.14 In her prayers and poems she stresses her lay status, her devotion and her modesty, even her incompetence, all of which she hopes will “save her” from exaggerated self-esteem.15 At the same time, these arguments give her the

10 Antonia’s extant papers are found in Codex 551, Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stutt- gart. For details see Reinhard Gruhl and Matthias Morgenstern, “Zwei hebräische Gebete der Prinzessin Antonia von Württemberg (1613–1679) im Kontext der Einweihung der kabbalistischen Lehrtafel in Bad Teinach,” Judaica 62,2 (2006), 97–130. 11 Among them were Anna van Schurman (1607–1678) and Ursula Margarethe Schickard (1618–1634), daughter of the famous Hebraist and professor of oriental languages,Wilhelm Schickard from Tübingen. 12 See for example, Johann Valentin Andreae, Ein geistliches Gemälde, entworfen und aufge- zeichnet von Huldrich StarkMann, Diener des Evangeliums, nach dem wiedergefundenen Urdruck Tübingen 1615, ed. Reinhard Breymayer (Tübingen, 1992). 13 Some of his letters are preserved in the hab Wolfenbüttel. Cf. Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 53 and 254 n. 1. A letter from Antonia (November 3, 1646), signed in Hebrew letters, has been published with commentary: ibid., 307–316. Cf. Martin Brecht, Johann Valentin Andreae 1586–1654. Eine Biographie (Göttingen, 2008); Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 42 and 312. 14 Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 87f., 103–107. See also Gruhl and Morgen- stern, “Zwei Hebräische Gebete” (see above, n. 10), 110f. 15 On Antonia’s prayers and her studies of Gematria, cf. Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see

Church History and Religious Culture 98 (2018) 56–90Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 09:54:33AM via free access 60 morlok rhetorical space to take certain freedoms that a theologian or public scholar would not have. As a self-proclaimed amateur, she could innovate creatively and integrate unusual theological concepts. The daily prayers in Antonia’s own devotional schedule (Andachtsplan) corresponded to the usual structure expected in that era for a noble lady’s private worship. However, her interest in Hebraism and her adaptation of kabbalistic elements transgress the usual spiritual aims of praxis pietatis for women and laity.16 It is very difficult to find evidence of high levels of Hebrew learning outside universities in this period, and this is even truer regarding women. Although many pietists studied Hebrew informally, they seldom achieved a level of proficiency that could allow them to reach the level of composing poems or prayers in Hebrew.17 It was usually only the offspring of Hebraists or Orientalists like Johannes Drusius (1550–1616) or Johannes Buxtorf who had the opportunity to learn Hebrew outside the university system.YetAntonia’s extant papers reveal how she made progress in her studies with Strölin and how she managed first to punctuate and then even to compose her own Hebrew prayers and poems.18 Antonia was even capable of imitating the poetological style of Hebrew liturgical poetry, or Piyyut, in her prayers and poems—an achievement that earned her the compliment of “knowing Hebrew like a man.”19

above, n. 2), 59–86. On the salvific function of her prayers and on her disesteem of her own capabilities, cf. ibid., 87f. 16 Antonia’s sister Johanna may also have had an interest in teaching theological princi- ples to the laity, since she translated Matthias Hafenreffer’s theological compendium into German. She regarded that work as a “service of a layman for a layman.” See Gruhl and Morgenstern, “Zwei Hebräische Gebete” (see above, n. 10), 110; and Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 120 n. 397. The sisters also corresponded with laity on theological subjects; cf. Gruhl, ibid., 319. During her adolescence, Narcissus Schwehlen, Antonia’s teacher of religion, had compiled a handwritten lay dogmatics for her. See ibid., 64. There are yet further facts relating to the Lehrtafel that hint at a broadening of women’s usual sphere of activity: Antonia’s sisters acted as donors, intermediary agents, and patrons for the altarpiece and Antonia recited a public prayer for its inauguration. Gruhl and Mor- genstern, “Zwei Hebräische Gebete” (see above, n. 10), 111 and 114. On female patrons in Pietism, acting on behalf of the laity, see Lucinda Martin, “Öffentlichkeit und Anonymität von Frauen im (Radikalen) Pietismus—Die Spendentätigkeit adliger Patroninnen,” in Der Radikale Pietismus, ed. Wolfgang Breul, Lothar Vogel, and Marcus Meier (Göttingen, 2010), 385–402. 17 On Christian women studying Hebrew during the Baroque period, see Gruhl and Morgen- stern, “Zwei Hebräische Gebete” (see above, n. 10), 101–107. 18 See the careful analysis by Gruhl and Morgenstern, ibid. 19 On this genre in Hebrew literature see Leopold Zunz, Die synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters

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The altarpiece in Bad Teinach combines Christianity with kabbalistic and Hebrew elements in ingenious ways. The outer panel of the shrine displays an image of a bridal procession—Princess Antonia herself “marries” Christ— while the large inside painting is a symbolic representation of the spiritual evolution of mankind within the kabbalistic structure of the divine sefirot (attributes / essences). In the inner painting, Antonia stands at the gate to a garden, ready to tread its path. It is especially in this retable that kabbalistic and Christian symbolism are conflated to visualize the upward “path” to mystical union. The two smaller side panels of the shrine that open to reveal the inner panel exhibit images that support the messages of the large painting on the inside. The left panel depicts Jesus as a child on the flight to Egypt (Matt. 2:13– 15) and the right panel features the baby Moses by the waters of the Nile (Ex. 2:5–10). At the same time, these two children represent Antonia herself, since they bear her countenance. They thus refer to her (and humanity’s) spiritual rebirth.20 The three parts of the triptych work together to communicate a rite of passage in three steps: a break with the profane world (the bride’s procession in the outer painting), a transformation (the images of Moses and Jesus in the side panels) and finally resurrection and the new community of Christ (the inner panel depicting the mystical path to spiritual rebirth).21 Recent scholarship has demonstrated that important kabbalistic texts were involved in the production of the Lehrtafel. The “Gates of Light” (Figure 1) of Joseph Gikatilla as well as the kabbalistic writings of the Christian scholar Johannes Reuchlin were present at the Court of Stuttgart and Antonia and her teachers made intensive use of these texts.22 The divine concepts and system propagated in these treatises establish the intellectual background for the “teaching panel.” Of course, regular laity would not have understood the kabbalistic references embedded in the structure of the artwork (Figure 2). Nonetheless lay spectators could apprehend the shrine as an expression of deep piety. The imagery gave the impression of an immediate and overwhelm- ing glimpse into the divine realm, and provided ample material for contempla-

(Berlin: Springer, 1855); Elisabeth Hollender, Piyyut Commentary in Medieval Ashkenaz (Berlin, 2008); ead., Clavis Commentariorum of Hebrew Liturgical Poetry in Manuscript (Leiden, 2005). 20 Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 36f. 21 Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 2 and 48. On a similarity with Albrecht Dürer see ibid., 2 and 150. 22 Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 4; Häussermann, “Pictura Docens” (see above, n. 9), 70–72.

Church History and Religious Culture 98 (2018) 56–90Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 09:54:33AM via free access 62 morlok

figure 1 Frontispiece Joseph Gikatilla, Portae Lucis, Augsburg 1516 bayerische staatsbibliothek münchen 6985602 4 asc. 836

Church History and ReligiousDownloaded Culture from 98 Brill.com10/05/2021 (2018) 56–90 09:54:33AM via free access the kabbalistic “teaching panel” of princess antonia 63 tion on human-divine and inner-divine relations.23 Through meditation, the viewer was initiated into the dynamic divine system and invited to elevate his or her soul to unite with its heavenly source, defined in the Christian context of the altarpiece as Christ, the redeemer and bridegroom of the human soul, as indicated in the painting on the outside of the shrine, depicting the bridal procession. A deeper, underlying message—that Jewish mysticism fore- shadowed the role of Christ—would be available for those knowledgeable in Kabbalah.

2 Kabbalah and the Christian Interest in a Philosophia Perennis

As early as the Renaissance, Christian authors had looked to Jewish mysticism for antecedents to Christianity.24 This interest continued to spread so that by the seventeenth century, Christian scholars across Europe were appropriat- ing and adapting originally Jewish doctrines within a Christian context and in languages other than Hebrew.25 One of the most fascinating examples is the translation of kabbalistic writings into Latin by Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (1636–1689). This enormous anthology entitled Kabbala Denudata or “Kab- balah Unveiled” was prepared with the financial support of the Count Palatine of Sulzbach, Christian August (1622–1708).26 The work included both Christian

23 On a dynamic contemplation of the divine realm, which contains a paradigmatic structure of the lower realms, in kabbalistic literature, see Moshe Idel, “Some Concepts of Time and History in Kabbalah,” in Jewish History and Jewish Memory. Essays in Honour of Josef Hayim Yerushalmi, ed. Elisheva Carlebach, John M. Efron, and David N. Myers (Hanover / London, 1998), 153–188, here 161. 24 Count Giovanni Pico della Mirandola is considered the first Christian Kabbalist (although a few Jewish converts to Christianity offered Christian interpretations of Kabbalah before him). In 1486, he composed a treatise with 900 theses about religion, philosophy, and magic and offered to defend them. The introduction to these theses is called the Oration on the Dignity of Man, a key text of Renaissance thought. In one of them, he declared that no science could better prove the divinity of Christ than Kabbalah and magic. For further details, see Stéphane Toussaint, “Kabbalah and Concordia in two of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Ophic Theses,” Accademia 12 (2010), 13–26. 25 On different currents in Jewish kabbalistic thought in the seventeenth century, see Moshe Idel, “Differing Conceptions of Kabbalah in the Early 17th Century,” in Jewish Thought in the Seventeenth Century, ed. Isadore Twersky and Bernard Septimus (Cambridge, ma, 1987), 137–200. 26 The first volume was printed in 1677 and 1678 in Sulzbach and the second in Frankfurt /

Church History and Religious Culture 98 (2018) 56–90Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 09:54:33AM via free access 64 morlok interpretations of kabbalistic concepts and translations into Latin of Jewish mystical writings, among them some of the most important texts of the so- called theosophic-theurgic brand of Kabbalah,27 including parts of the Sefer haZohar (“Book of Splendor”) and Joseph Gikatilla’s Shaʿare Orah (“Gates of Light”).28 Furthermore, about half of the material stems from the Kabbalists of Safed, that is to say, Lurianic Kabbalah.29 Kabbala Denudata became one of the major sources of information on Kabbalah in Europe. For contemporaries, one of the most impressive aspects of the work is its diagrams of the so-called Ilanot. These are visual depictions of the inner-divine attributes of God (sefirot) in the form of an Arbor Sephirotica or “Tree of Life.”30 These figura were understood, alongside other examples of ancient wisdom, as “prefigurations” of Christianity. Students of Christian Kabbalah could thus interpret the diagrams to have Christian meanings.31 The Kabbala Denudata built on the conclusions of earlier Renaissance scholars of

Main in 1784. See Boaz Huss, “The Text and Context of the 1684 Sulzbach Edition of the Zohar,” in Tradition, Heterodoxy and Religious Culture: Judaism and Christianity in the Early Modern Period, ed. Chanita Goodblatt and Howard Kreisel (Beʾer Sheva, 2006), 117–138; id., “Translations of the Zohar: Historical Contexts and Ideological Frameworks,” Correspon- dences 4 (2016), 81–128. On Knorr see also Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah (Jerusalem, 1974), 416–418. 27 On the division of medieval kabbalistic literature into theosophic-theurgic and prophetic or linguistic schools see Moshe Idel, Kabbalah—New Perspectives (New Haven / London, 1988), xi–xx. 28 Cf. Elke Morlok, Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla’s Hermeneutics (Tübingen, 2011). 29 Coudert speaks of about one quarter of the material as being of Lurianic origin, see Allison P. Coudert, The Impact of the Kabbalah in the Seventeenth Century. The Life and Thought of Francis Mercury van Helmont, 1614–1698 (Leiden / Boston / Köln, 1999), 119. A glance at the table of contents suggests rather that about half of the material is Lurianic: Baharah’s Emeq haMelekh, Herrera’s treatises, De Revolutionibus Animarum and the diagrams are all included. Moreover, the translation of the Zohar and the Loci Communes were also under Lurianic influence. 30 Giulio Busi, Qabbala Visiva (Turin, 2005), 389–394; J.H. Chajes, “Durchlässige Grenzen: Die Visualisierung Gottes zwischen jüdischer und christlicher Kabbala bei Knorr von Rosenroth und van Helmont,” Morgen-Glantz 27 (2017), 99–149; id., “Spheres, Sefirot and the Imaginal Astronomical Discourse in Classical Kabbalah,” (unpublished manuscript). My thanks goes to J.H. Chajes for providing me with that article. 31 Saverio Campanini, “Il De Divinis Attributis di Cesare Evoli,”Materia Guidaica 15–16 (2010– 2011), 339–355; id., “A Sefirotic Tree from a Miscellany of Christian Kabbalistic Texts,” in Manuscrits Hébreux et Arabs; Mélanges en l’Honneur de Colette Sirat, ed. Nicolas de Lange and Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (Turnhout, 2014), 387–401.

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Christian Kabbalah and helped to confirm the conviction that the true identity of Judaism and Christianity is to be found in an underlying prisca theologia or philosophia perennis.32 Knorr and other Christian kabbalists considered diagrams such as the Ilanot to be essential for providing esoteric knowledge to aspiring readers and for fostering apprehension and memorization of complex material at a glance.33 The diagrammatic images sometimes depicted the sefirotic tree as concentric circles, “wheels within wheels,” and could even function as computational tools. These different forms and uses enabled not only the preservation of old doctrines, but also the creative production of new knowledge.34 At the same time, they exercised a fascination upon Early Modern expo- nents of Christian Kabbalah, who used these diagrams when creating new emblems and “hieroglyphs” to express energetic qualities of occult powers and cosmic secrets. This was true for Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), Heinrich Khun- rath (c. 1560–1606), Robert Fludd (1574–1637), and Athanasius Kircher (1602– 1680), among others. According to these scholars, kabbalistic tree diagrams constituted the “heart” and the “foundation of the whole doctrine” of Jewish esotericism, as Johann Benedict Carpzov ii (1639–1699), professor of Oriental languages in Leipzig,35 explained in a letter to the pietist Johann Jacob Schütz (1640–1690) in 1678.36 However, Christian scholars of the Renaissance had also been intrigued by diagrams and the notion of hidden meanings in Kabbalah. Within the framework of the Renaissance notion of ancient wisdom or philosophia perennis, scholars had believed the texts to contain divine arcana.37 For this reason,

32 Chajes, “Durchlässige Grenzen” (see above, n. 30), 104. 33 Ibid., 108–110. 34 For the Christian tradition see Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory. A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (Cambridge, 2008). 35 Chajes, “Durchlässige Grenzen” (see above, n. 30), ibid. 36 Carpzov was a former student of the Orientalist Johannes Buxtorf (1599–1664) in Basel. The letter from October 18, 1678 can be found in the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel, Cod. Guelf. 157.1 Extrav. fol. 42r–v (http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?dir=mss/157‑1‑extrav). Cf. Rosemarie Zeller, “Der Nachlaß Christian Knorr von Rosenroths in der Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel,” Morgen-Glantz 16 (2006), 64. 37 Moshe Idel, “Johannes Reuchlin: Kabbalah, Pythagorean Philosophy and Modern Schol- arship,” Studia Judaica 16 (2008), 30–55; id., “Prisca Theologia in Marsilio Ficino and in some Jewish Treatments,” in Marsilio Ficino: His Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy, ed. Michael J.B. Allen and Valery Rees (Leiden / Boston / Köln, 2002), 137–158. On the notion of prisca theologia, see also Wouter Hanegraaff, Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture (Cambridge 2012), 6–8. Johann Reuchlin published two

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Christian kabbalists had compiled Latin translations and anthologies of the Zohar during the Renaissance and the Baroque period to demonstrate that Kabbalah and kabbalistic hermeneutic techniques could reveal and verify the truth of Christian doctrines.38 Christian Kabbalists took the antiquity of kabbalistic doctrines for granted, assuming that they contained ancient wisdom whose Christological seed needed only to be disclosed. It was but a short step further for Christian Kabbalists to believe that Kab- balah could be made fruitful for missionary purposes. Many dreamed of a uni- versal Christianity, consisting of converted Jews together with the members of the different Christian denominations, all bound together in one faith.39 How- ever, Christian scholars were not just interested in converting Jews. They were also genuinely interested in exploiting kabbalistic texts for their own intellectual and spiritual interest.40 In fact, there are indications that missionary rhetoric served as a pretext for studying the texts. Furthermore, contemporary records indicate that the strongest interest in converting Jews was found not among Christian scholars, but instead among Christian sovereigns and the aris- tocratic elite.41

books on Kabbalah, De Verbo Mirifico—“On the Wonderful Word,” in 1494, and the Arte Cabbalistica, “On the Art of Kabbalah,” in 1517. One of Reuchlin’s most influential doctrines concerns the kabbalistic secret of the name of Jesus, which is comprised of the letters of the Tetragrammaton—yod, he and waw, with an additional shin, bringing the divine name to its messianic perfection. 38 Huss, “Translations (see above, n. 26),” 83–84, 99, 122. 39 Lucinda Martin, “Noch eine ‘res publica literaria’? Die Briefe der Unsichtbaren Kirche als diskursiver Raum,” Aufklärung 28 (2016), 135–172. See also Coudert, The Impact of the Kab- balah (see above, n. 29), 117. Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann is convinced that Knorr indeed had missionary intentions with the Kabbala Denudata; see “Knorr von Rosenroths mis- sionarische Intentionen,” Morgen-Glantz 20 (2010), 193; Andreas Kilcher, “Kabbalistische Buchstabenmetaphysik: Knorrs Bibliothek und die Bedeutung des Sohar,” in Christliche Kabbala, ed. Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, (Ostfildern, 2003), 211–223, here 222f. 40 Chajes speaks of their “rigorous antiquarianism and enlightened scholarship.” See “Durch- lässige Grenzen” (see above, n. 30), 104f. 41 This is exemplified by a letter that Christian August of Sulzbach sent to Rudolf August of Braunschweig Wolfenbüttel to accompany a copy of the Kabbala Denudata. In the letter, the former touts the potential of Kabbalah for converting Jews to Christianity, also with a possible Sabbatean background, estimating the Zohar higher than the Talmud. On the Sabbatean context of the Zohar edition in Sulzbach, see Huss, “Text and Context” (see above, n. 26), 130–138. The letter from Christian August of March 21, 1684 was attached to the first volume of the Kabbala Denudata (hab Wolfenbüttel, Sign. Theol. 229.20).

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Paradoxically, Christian scholars were the first to publish kabbalistic writings, translated into Latin, even before these texts were printed in their original languages. Latin translations of kabbalistic texts printed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were later translated into modern European languages, and became sources for knowledge of Kabbalah across Europe. Christian Kab- balists, however, also supported the printing of kabbalistic texts in their original languages, both to study these texts in their original language and to propagate the study of Kabbalah amongst Jews, thereby “demonstrating” the supposed compatibility of the Jewish and Christian faiths. Through such channels, the texts of Christian Kabbalah had a significant impact on both Christian and Jew- ish cultures, as many important European scholars, philosophers and scientists were interested in Kabbalah and tried to integrate it into their intellectual systems.42 These include luminaries such as the English scientist Isaac Newton and the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz as well as Jewish writ- ers such as Jacob Zemah (died c. 1655), who was responsible for the first grand diagrammatic scroll on Lurianic Kabbalah.43

3 The Sefirotic Matrix

The ten attributes, or forms of revelation of God, known as the ten sefirot are central to most kabbalistic systems. Medieval kabbalistic literature offered a variety of ideas concerning the nature and essence of the sefirot, and many different names and symbols were used to designate them. The major paradigms include describing them as characteristics of God (such as His wisdom, mercy, and anger), as the anthropomorphic “body” of God, as God’s masculine and feminine aspects,44 or as a divine family (Figure 2).

The letter has been published by Rosemarie Zeller, “Der Nachlaß” (see above, n. 36), 58 n. 8. For a partial English translation see Huss, ibid., 127. 42 A.P. Coudert, Leibniz and the Kabbalah (Dordrecht / Boston, 1995); ead., The Impact of the Kabbalah (see above, n. 29), 284. 43 Chajes, “Durchlässige Grenzen” (see above, n. 30) 114. 44 The erotic tension between various elements of the sefirotic system has been a major topic in academic research in recent decades. See e.g. Elliot Wolfson, Language, Eros, Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination (New York, 2005); Moshe Idel, Kabbalah and Eros (New Haven / London, 2005); Daniel Abrams, The Female Body of God in Kabbalistic Literature: Embodied Forms of Love and Sexuality in the Divine Feminine (Jerusalem, 2004) [in Hebrew].

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figure 2 Sefirotic Tree. Online course of Boaz Huss and Yoed Kadary: Introduction to Kabbalah kab 1010x https://courses.edx.org/courses/course‑v1:israelx+kab1010x +3t2017/pdfbook/1/ (accessed 12.02.2018)

In kabbalistic prayer, the mystic ascends through the lowest sefira, Malkhut (kingdom), through the sefirotic realm to the highest sefira, Keter (crown), in order to initiate the divine influx from above, down to the earthly realm.45 This ascent is often associated with erotic relationships both between the mys-

45 Moshe Idel, Enchanted Chains. Techniques and Rituals in Jewish Mysticism (Los Angeles, 2005), 3–30, 165–204; id., Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism. Pillars, Lines, Ladders (Budapest, 2005), 23–72.

Church History and ReligiousDownloaded Culture from 98 Brill.com10/05/2021 (2018) 56–90 09:54:33AM via free access the kabbalistic “teaching panel” of princess antonia 69 tic and the sefirot and among the sefirot themselves.46 Therefore, many texts include a description of an erotic union between the male mystic and the lowest, feminine sefira Malkhut (kingdom), functioning as an “entrance” into the divine sphere.47 If, however, the mystic is depicted as feminine—the human soul is usually designated as female—then the union takes place with the sefira called Yesod (foundation), which has an evident phallic connotation. It is also closely related to circumcision and to kabbalistic exegesis.48 Yet another vari- ation was for the mystic to initiate a union between female Malkhut and male Yesod or Tifʾeret. In the sefirotic system, the En Sof, the “Infinite,” is understood as the com- pletely transcendent and hidden aspect of the Divine. The sefirot emanate out of the En Sof in a process of revelation. Of special interest are the dynam- ics between the different sefirot and the effect of their changing relations on one another, on the material world and on human history. The most detailed description of this inner-divine, dynamic life of the deity is found in Joseph Gikatilla’s Shaʿare Orah (“Gates of Light”) of 1293, in which the sefirot signify the divine essences or modes of action that correspond to the ten divine names.49 With the help of the “correct” kabbalistic exegesis and meditative prayer cen- tering on the divine names, the mystic may exercise a certain influence on the divinity in a theurgical or magical manner. Gikatilla’s text is recognized as the most detailed and best organized mapping of the divine system. Paulus Ricius,50 a Jewish convert to Christianity, translated Gikatilla’s “Gates of Light” into Latin, and published a paraphrase of it under the title Portae Lucis in 1516 (Figure 1). This was the first published kabbalistic text, and it had a tremendous impact on the further development of Christian Kabbalah.51

46 Morlok, Gikatilla’s Hermeneutics (see above, n. 28), 123–131. 47 Idel, Kabbalah and Eros (see above, n. 44), 39–41. 48 Elliot Wolfson, “Circumcision, Vision of God, and Textual Interpretation: From Midrash Trope to Mystical Symbol,”History of Religions 27 (1987), 189–215. Christian treatises deal- ing bridal imagery usually eliminated the phallic references. Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehr- tafel (see above, n. 2), 163f. 49 Idel, Kabbalah—New Perspectives (see above, n. 27), 112. 50 Bernd Roling, Aristotelische Naturphilosophie und christliche Kabbalah im Werk des Paulus Ritius (Tübingen, 2007); see also Gershom Scholem, “Zur Geschichte der Anfänge der christlichen Kabbala,” in Essays presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday (London, 1954), 158–193. 51 A fascinating example of the influence of Kabbalah on Christian speculation can be found in the work of the mystical philosopher, Jacob Böhme. This influence, noted by the great scholar of Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem, has recently drawn new scholarly interest.

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4 Antonia’s “Marriage” to Christ

With the Lehrtafel, Princess Antonia and her teachers created a visual representation of the sefirotic system that experts of Kabbalah could interpret and understand, but that would also fulfill the devotional needs of regular Chris- tian worshippers. The specific contributions of the different parties involved in conceptualizing the altarpiece remains unclear, but there is evidence that Antonia took on a central role.52 The princess was very interested in rabbinic and kabbalistic literature and she corresponded intensely with her teachers as well as other scholars about the kabbalistic motifs in these paintings.53 The outer painting depicting Antonia’s “marriage” to Christ signals that bridal mysticism will be the doctrinal framework of the entire altar.54 Christ’s centrality is emphasized both in the image on the outside of the altarpiece, as well as in the central panel on the inside.55 In the outer painting, Anto- nia receives a crown from Christ, her “bridegroom.” She gazes at him with the expression of a love-struck bride. Such erotic bridal imagery derives from the Song of Songs (Song 1:1) and other biblical texts, and both kabbalistic litera- ture56 and Christian mysticism often refer to it.57 In the altarpiece’s depiction,

See Gershom Scholem, “The Name of God and the Linguistic Theory of the Kabbalah,” Diogenes 79 (1972), 60; Gerold Necker, “‘Out of Himself, to Himself’: The Kabbalah of Jacob Böhme,” in The World of Jacob Böhme, eds. Bo Andersson, Lucinda Martin, Leigh Penman, and AndrewWeeks (Leiden, 2018) (at press). Special thanks to Gerold Necker for providing me with his article before publication. 52 Häussermann, “Pictura Docens” (see above, n. 9), 77. 53 Gruhl and Morgenstern, “Zwei hebräische Gebete” (see above, n. 10), 103f. 54 Cf. Paul Peucker, A Time of Sifting. Mystical Marriage and the Crisis of Moravian Piety in the Eighteenth Century (University Park, 2015). 55 For a detailed description of both paintings as well as references to unpublished source material in the Stuttgart Landesbibliothek and the hab Wolfenbüttel, see Gruhl, Kabba- listische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), chap. 3 and 4; and Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1). 56 Cf. Moshe Idel, “Sexual Metaphors and Praxis in the Kabbalah,” in Ultimate Intimacy. The Psychodynamics of Jewish Mysticism, ed. Mortimer Ostow (London, 1995), 217–244; Elliot Wolfson, “Coronation of the Sabbath Bride: Kabbalistic Myth and the Ritual of Androgyni- sation,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 6 (1997), 301–347; Peter Schäfer, “Daugh- ter, Sister, Bride and Mother: Images of the Femininity of God in the Early Kabbalah,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 68 (2000), 221–242. 57 Cf. for example, Philipp Nicolai (1556–1608) in his famous choral on Christ as the bridegroom, the shining morning star (“Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”) of 1597. All seven verses refer to the bride symbolism from the Song of Songs. Cf. Hermann Kurzke, “Wie

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Antonia occupies the role of Shulamith in Song of Songs 7:2, leading the bridal procession towards her heavenly bridegroom (Figure 3). He has been victorious over suffering and death, as the palm leaf that he is holding indicates, and he places on her head the crown of life, bestowing her with eternal life and bliss. In the painting, 94 women are following Antonia in a bridal procession, 77 of whom have been identified.58 The women in the picture represent figures from the Old and New Testament, but at the same time they bear the likenesses of real people, most from the house of Württemberg. Directly behind Antonia stand her two sisters; the three sisters together symbolize hope, faith, and love (1Cor. 13:13). Together with the heart and the crown, these three build yet another bridge to the kabbalistic picture inside the altarpiece and to the sefirotic system featured in it.59 Written on the crown of thorns lying beneath Christ’s feet, one reads: con- summatum est (“it has been completed”), referring both to mystical marriage of bride and bridegroom, and to the words that Christ spoke at the crucifixion, right before dying (John 19:30; Luke 23:46).60 Shulamith / Antonia signifies the soul’s union with Christ, but she also stands for all believers connected with Christ in true love, receiving the “crown” when still alive and not only after death.61

schön leuchtet der Morgenstern,” in GeistlichesWunderhorn.GroßedeutscheKirchenlieder, ed. Hansjakob Becker et al. (Munich, 2003), 146–153. 58 Otto Betz was able to identify 77 figures using Strölin’s sketch of the procession. He also relied on a copperplate that the Pietist Friedrich Christoph Oetinger had had executed. The copperplate was made according to an original sketch by Jacob Friedrich Klemm and Andreas Knoderer who went to Bad Teinach to map the painting. Cf. Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 9–11. Cf. Oetinger’s influential study of the shrine: Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, Die Lehrtafel der Prinzessin Antonia, ed. Reinhard Breymayer and Friedrich Häussermann (Berlin / New York, 1977). 59 On the role of female guides in mystical Jewish literature, see Idel, Kabbalah and Eros (see above, n. 44), 177. Cf. also Barbara Newman, From Virile Women to Women Christ (Philadelphia, 1995), 218–223, 230f., 242f. and ead., God and the Goddesses (Philadelphia, 2003). On the crown motif, cf. Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 91. 60 Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 30f. All the other Biblical figures are explained online under http://netscore.de/Antonia/Startseite.html (accessed 12.02.2018). 61 See Ernst Koch, “Beobachtungen zum Umgang mit dem Hohenlied in Theologie und Frömmigkeit des Luthertums im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert,” in Studien zur Theologie- und Frömmigkeitsgeschichte des Luthertums im 16. bis 18. Jahrhundert, ed. Matthias Richter and Johann Anselm Steiger (Waltrop, 2005), 285–306.

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figure 3 Epitaph picture of the altar (closed): Bridal Procession of Shulamith

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The subject of the soul and its “coronation,” or marriage with Christ, ties the inner and outer paintings of the altarpiece together. A verse at the very top of the outer painting thematizes this mystical “marriage”:62

Christ: Come, soul, marry me for forever Take, Beautiful, the crown, the heavenly adornment. Death, the devil, and the might of hell I have conquered, infinite joy through suffering gained.

Bride: Only thou most worthy Jesus, thou hast been my delight, with exception of thee I knew no joy. I loved thee sincerely by faith without seeing: for hope is open, to go to heaven.

Angel: Welcome, you pious, come all at once to live and sway, in the blessed Kingdom, Help to praise the thrice hallowed name, the a and o. Sing Hallelujah with Amen!63

62 The following English translation is mine with assistance from Lucinda Martin. The German text can be found in Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 30: Christus: Auf, Seele, vermähle dich ewig mit mir, nimm, Schöne, die Krone, die himmlische Zier. Tod, Teufel und Höllenmacht hab‘ ich bezwungen, unendliche Freuden durch Leiden erzwungen. Braut: Nur, wertester Jesus, du warest mein’ Lust, und außer dir war mir kein Freude bewußt. Ich liebte dich herzlich im Glauben ohn’ Sehen: Für Hoffen steht offen, in Himmel zu gehen. Engel: Willkommen, ihr Frommen, kommt alle zugleich, zu leben und schweben im seligen Reich: Helft preisen den dreimal hochheiligen namen Das a und o. Singt Halleluja mit Amen! 63 A(lpha) and O(mega) refer to Rev. 22:13, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Versions also appear in Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6–7, Rev. 1:17–18. They also recall Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12 in which the divinity is the “first and last.”

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The imagined dialogue between Christ and the soul, which concludes with the angel’s address to the observer, is a song. The painting even contains the melody and musical notation, and depicts the angels as accompanying the scenery with instrumental music, which appears to radiate from the heavens. Seven of the angels are playing trumpets, which serves as a visual counter- point to the seven trumpets of judgment depicted in the inner picture of the Lehrtafel.64 Yet another element connecting the inner and outer paintings of the altarpiece is the motif of the heart. In the outer painting, Antonia’s cloak is held together with a clasp bearing her initials, and her hand is lying on her heart. In the inner image, Antonia is holding her heart in her hand. This is surely a reference to Antonia’s instructions that her heart be buried behind the altarpiece after her death.65 At the same time, the heart also refers to a wordplay on the German terms “Herz” (heart) and “Herzogin” (duchess). For those versed in Kabbalah, the “heart” had a further, more esoteric significance. The Hebrew word for heart, lev, has an alphanumeric value of 32. In kabbalistic traditions, this number refers to the Sefer Yezirah (“Book of Cre- ation”) and its 32 wondrous paths of wisdom (pliʾot Hokhmah) in creating the cosmos. As these 32 paths (22 Hebrew letters and the 10 sefirot) are contained and appear in the oralTorah, which is also called the Shekhina, she—the Shekhina—is called the “heart” or “heart of heaven” and receives a central position in the Sefer haBahir, one of the earliest testimonies of Kabbalah.66 The heart motif provides an excellent example of Antonia’s twofold hermeneutics: the lay spectator could associate the heart with well-known Christian motifs and theology—inviting Christ into the heart and so forth—whereas the expert could connect these symbols with their kabbalistic content. The heart symbolism is also connected with Jewish and Christian meanings of the word “crown” and its associations with circumcision. In Romans 2:29 the apostle Paul speaks of a “circumcision of the heart” to make the point that belief must be internalized and not just exhibited by outer, physical circumcision. The crown (Keter) is the highest sefira in the divine sefirotic system (Figure 2), and at the same time it evokes here Christ’s crown of thorns, the symbol of his suffering. Coronation similarly calls up multiple layers of meaning: in Jewish mysticism it refers to a union with the divine, including through circumcision. In kabbalistic literature, the language of “crowning” is often used

64 Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 30. 65 Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 1. 66 Gershom Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah (Princeton, 1990), 171.

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5 Antonia’s Paradisiacal Path

The inner painting of the altarpiece (Figure 4) depicts a subject already indicated by the outer painting: the soul’s ascent to the highest realm, the return to its source, resurrection and the new community. The entire picture presents the underlying sefirotic structure according to Gikatilla (Figure 1) as a ladder of ascent through the divine, primordial powers.68 In this image, nature and faith are in complete harmony; through the contemplation of nature, the believer opens the way for the soul to unite with the divine. The liber Dei is here identi- cal with the liber naturae. Through knowledge about nature and what it reveals about the divinity, one may gain access to the upper realm.69 Like the mystic entering into the sefirotic realm via prayer (Figure 2), Anto- nia is depicted standing at the gate to the lowest sefira Malkhut (kingdom) or heavenly realm, that is, she is returning to “lost” paradise (Figure 5).70 Antonia is just ready to enter, to tread the spiritual path and to receive her “crown.” Paradise is open to believers and the spiritual path is revealed in its eschatological significance. Yet a closer look at the painting’s composition reveals that the soul’s journey entails the help of the sefirotic system and the divine names according to Gikatilla’s description in his Gates of Light (Figure 1). The subject of spiritual coronation that is thematized in both the inner and outer paintings is a common metaphor in kabbalistic literature. To correctly

67 Wolfson, Language, Eros, Being (see above, n. 44), 133–141. 68 Häussermann, “Pictura Docens” (see above, n. 9), 76. On the “ladder of ascension” in kabbalistic literature see Idel, Ascensions on High (see above, n. 45), 187–192. 69 Moshe Idel, “Deus sive Natura—The Metamorphosis of a Dictum from Maimonides to Spinoza,” in Maimonides and the Sciences, ed. Robert S. Cohen and Hillel Levine (Dor- drecht, 2000), 87–110. See also Kocku von Stuckrad, “Rewriting the Book of Nature: Kab- balah and the Metaphors of Contemporary Life Sciences,” Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture 2,4 (2008), 419–442. 70 The return of the soul to paradise after death is a widespread motif in kabbalistic literature. However, kabbalistic texts also describe this return to the soul’s origin as a possibility for believers in this life. See Moshe Idel, “On Paradise in Jewish Mysticism,” in The Cradle of Creativity, ed. Chami Ben-Noon (Hod HaSharon, 2004), 609–644.

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figure 4 Inner painting of the Triptych interpret texts and penetrate to their deeper layers of significance, the male Jewish exegete has to be circumcised (“crowned”).This notion is emphasized by the Hebrew homonym milah, which means both “word” and “circumcision.”71

71 See notes 48 and 56 above.

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figure 5 Lower part of the inner painting. Antonia at the entrance to the garden

At the same time, “coronation” underscores that the mystic is being transformed during the exegetical process into the “crown” of the divine, the ʿatara (“diadem”), the female partner of the divine, as presented in Gikatilla.72 For this reason, only a male mystic may enter into the mystical exegetical process, as the revelation of his corona (crown) during circumcision is the conditio sine qua non for his apotheosis in this process. In Gikatilla’s Gates of Light this unio mystica is described as the unification of the “king and queen.” The imple- mentation of this eroticized imagery in the hermeneutical exegetical process is based on the anthropomorphic correspondence between the human and the divine realm, which is also found in the Zoharic corpus.73

72 Morlok, Gikatilla’s Hermeneutics (see above, n. 28), 124–129. 73 Ibid., 119, 124, 128f.

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One of the most fascinating aspects of Princess Antonia’s kabbalistic “teaching panel” is the gender-switch she implants in her visual presentation of the sefirotic tree, as all the traditionally male sefirot are represented here by the female figures flanking the temple.74 For instance, the central axis of the inte- rior picture is dominated by a large temple construction. Female figures— generally understood to represent the Christian virtues—are arranged sym- metrically around the temple, following the structure of the sefirotic system. The erotic tension of the entire picture is focused on Christ and Antonia below, although all the female figures of the upper, inner-divine part also refer to the only male figure of the system, Christ. Antonia represents the soul, the anima devota, standing at the entrance of the garden, ready to ascend to its divine source (Figure 5). Furthermore, the most feminine of all sefirot—Malkhut (kingdom) or Shekhina—is presented here as Christ, a male figure. The painting implies that Christ will unite with Antonia, yet according to traditional kabbalistic concepts, the place she holds is normally reserved for the male mystic. In fact, the painting represents all the sefirotic components as female figures,75 with the exception of Christ in the place of the lowest sefira. Paradoxi- cally, this sefira is usually designated as the bride, virgin or daughter.76 Antonia thus approaches kabbalistic literature very differently than most contemporary experts. Furthermore, other Christian Hebraists who integrated kabbalistic symbols into their eschatological and soteriological concepts addressed their writings solely to expert male readers, while Antonia presented her teachings for the laity, including women.77 The paradisiacal garden in front of the temple is the focal point of the painting. It is placed within nature, on earth, and at its center Antonia faces

74 Significantly, Andreae also focused on a female figure in one of his poems: Andreae, Ein geistliches Gemälde (see above, n. 12). Cf. also Ulrike Gleixner’s analysis of bridal mysticism within the praxis pietatis and its reform; Ulrike Gleixner, Pietismus und Bürgertum. Eine historische Anthropologie der Frömmigkeit. Württemberg 17.–19. Jahrhundert (Göttingen, 2005), 39f. 75 Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel goes so far as to speak of a “feminization of the Kabbalah” in Antonia’s picture. Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel, “Antonia von Württemberg,” in Gottes- lehrerinnen, ed. Luise Schottroff and Johannes Thiele (Stuttgart, 1989), 118; cf. Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 42–47. 76 Cf. Arthur Green, “Shekhinah, the Virgin Mary and the Song of Songs: Reflections on a Kabbalistic Symbol in Its Historical Context,” ajs Review 26,1 (2002), 1–52. 77 Cf. Gerold Necker, “The Female Messiah. Gender Perspectives in Kabbalistic Eschatology and Christian Soteriology,” in Envisioning Judaism. Studies in Honor of Peter Schäfer on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, Vol. ii, ed. Raʾanan S. Boustan et al. (Tübingen, 2013), 837–856.

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figure 6 Christ in the center of the garden

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Christ (Figure 4 and 6). He is surrounded by the 12 sons of Jacob, the heads of the old and the new nation of God.78 In contrast to this group, the princess is standing alone, gazing at Christ. According to the Book of Genesis, a cherub with a sword guards the entrance to the garden of paradise, but in this painting, it is Antonia who takes up this post (Gen. 3:24). Since the garden is once again open for all, no sword-wielding cherub is needed. Christ, as the “second Adam” has reopened it: through him, all can gain access to the kingdom of God.79 In the place of the cherub and sword, Antonia is holding her flaming heart in her hand—a widespread motif in Early Modern religious iconography, signifying that Antonia’s heart belongs to Christ both in life and in death. The burning heart was a common symbol for a passionate devotion and love to Christ. On Antonia’s left, an anchor supports her. The anchor is yet another traditional Christian symbol for hope (Heb. 6:19). The crossbar of the anchor is a symbol of the cross itself.The lamb (John 1:29), representing Christ, accompanies Anto- nia and at the same time symbolizes the third Christian virtue, faith. The garden is surrounded by red and white roses, whose colors refer according to rabbinic and early kabbalistic texts to the divine attributes of grace (Hesed, white) and judgment (Gevurah / din, red).80 In Christian tradition, the red rose symbolizes martyrdom and wisdom, whereas the white rose stands for purity and theVirgin Mary, also called the “rose without thorns.”81 In the Song of Songs 2:2, the Hebrew Shoshanna is usually translated as “lily” but it also means “rose,” and in Christian imagery the lily and rose often appear together. The symbol of the rose thus appears in cathedrals as “rose windows” and Catholics pray a “rosary.”

78 According to Genesis 49. Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 187–238 gives a detailed discussion of this image. See also the examination in Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1). 79 Betz, ibid., 39f. 80 The “rose” therefore became a central symbol in Zoharic literature and is introduced in the very first lines of the opening of the Zohar. Gerold Necker, Sohar. Schriften aus dem Buch des Glanzes (Berlin, 2012), 9 and the commentary on the passage on page 171f. The kabbalistic colors of Gevurah (judgment, red) and Gedulah / Hesed (mercy, white), the divine attributes that need to be in balance to receive the divine blessing, are only indicated in the floral wreaths on the heads of the two figures sitting on the pediment of the temple (Figure 4). On colors in kabbalistic symbolism see Gershom Scholem, “Colours and Their Symbolism in Jewish Tradition and Mysticism,” Diogenes 108 (1979), 84–111; 109 (1980), 64–77. 81 George Ferguson, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art (London, Oxford, New York, 1954), 37f.

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Christ appears in the garden as the incarnate Logos (John 1:14), and represents God’s presence in the earthly realm. He occupies the central position within the 12 tribes, surrounded by 12 animals and 12 gems, which appear again on the breastplate of the High Priest in the place of Tifʾeret (splendor) (Figure 11). Christ stands upon a rock within a little pond, wearing the signs of his suffering, the crimson cloak and the crown of thorns, a contrast to the two heavenly crowns at the top of the picture (Figures 6 and 10). According to traditional Christian exegesis, the “rock” stood for the church in Jesus’ teachings or even for Jesus Himself (Matt. 7:24; Matt. 16:17). Similarly, Christians believed that certain passages of the Hebrew Bible prefiguring Christianity also referred to rock metaphors (Psalms 18:2; 2Sam. 22:2). For instance, Christians interpreted Moses bringing forth water from the rock as a metaphor for the creation of the church (Num. 20:1–13). At the same time, the rock (even) was also a subject in Gikatilla’s kabbalistic treatise, and represented the tenth sefira Malkhut. The pond surrounding Christ also bears a cabbalistic meaning. Berekha (“pond”) recalls a Hebrew pun that Gikatilla had employed, playing off two words that use the same consonants—Berekha / Berakha (pond / blessing).82 In Malkhut (the lowest sefira)—here identified as Christ—all streams of blessing are gathered and mediated to both the earthly and “spiritual” community of Israel (Knesset Israel).83 Christ, the messianic king is now the one mediating divine peace and blessing to the Christian community. The metaphors of rock and pond provide evidence that Gikatilla’s Gates of Light was one of the main sources for Antonia’s teaching panel.84 Below the central figures on the middle pillar of the sefirotic tree, which also fall on the middle axis of the painting,85 there are Hebrew inscriptions with the Hebrew personal pronouns Ani (“I”), Atta (“you”, male) and Hu (“he”).86

82 See Shaʿare Orah, ed. Yoseph ben Shlomo (Jerusalem, 1981), i:59f.; Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 159. 83 Knesset Israel is signified in kabbalistic literature by the tenth sefira. On Christ as the fountain, Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 276. 84 The rock also contains a reference to Ps. 118:22 (Malkhut) in Gikatilla, ibid., i:63f. On Gikatilla as the major source for Antonia and her teachers see Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 19–26, 65–68; Gruhl, Kabbalistische Lehrtafel (see above, n. 2), 321–348 (on Strölin’s Kurze Erklärungen zu den Sefirot) and 414–416. 85 This line is called qav haʾemzaʿi, which mediates the divine influx from above to below and signifies the axis of direct ascent to the crown (Keter). See Morlok, Gikatilla’s Hermeneutics (see above, n. 28), 259–264. It corresponds to the Tetragrammaton in Gikatilla’s constella- tion between the sefirot and the ten divine names. 86 The same identification of the pronouns with these sefirot is also found in Gikatilla’s other book on the sefirotic structure Shaʿare Zedeq (Gates of Justice) in the fifth gate.

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The word Ani (“I”), which has the same consonants in Hebrew as the En of En Sof (Infinity) appears beneath Christ, and refers in this way to the transcendent God. A striving soul, ascending from Christ or Malkhut to the highest sefira (Keter) needs to then reach a female figure on a sickle moon. According to Early Mod- ern art conventions, this is the pregnant woman from Revelations 12 (Figure 7) who was to give birth to the Christian church—or to Israel, depending on one’s interpretation. This position is normally inhabited by the phallic symbol of Yesod (foundation). The woman from Revelations 12 bears a familiar countenance—it is once again, the face of Antonia. She is now pregnant after her heavenly marriage and union with Christ and has been “reborn” as con- firmed by the images on the side wings of the altar.87 After this, the ascending soul reaches the Virgin Mary in the place of Tifʾeret (splendor). She is labeled Atta (you, male) (Figure 8), and again her visage is Antonia’s. Finally the soul ascends to Keter (crown), the highest place, here designated as Hu (he) (Figure 9, figure with white dress in the middle). These personal pronouns communicate a central Christological message: the transition between not being (Ayyin) and being is incorporated in the lowest place in the system, in Christ, who is incarnate as the Ani (“I”). Therefore, Christ is the revelation of the transcendent divine in the earthly realm, the preexistent divine Logos according to John 1. The ascent of the soul back to its source is only possible because of Christ’s descent to earth. What is more, Antonia embeds the Trinity into these kabbalistic figures (Fig- ure 9). Keter (crown) in the middle represents the Father, Hokhmah (wisdom) on the right is the preexistent Son, and Binah (understanding) on the left stands for the Holy Spirit.88 Binah as the virtue of Prudentia is holding a snake (Matt. 10:16) and a mirror in her hand as symbols for self-reflection and truth (Figure 9). The two construction instruments in front of Binah, an angular measure and a plumb-line,89 usually belong to Hokhmah (wisdom). This sefira symbolizes the primordial Torah as the preexistent construction plan for God’s creation of the cosmos, inhabiting the place which in Christian tradition is ascribed to the

87 Antonia herself could not get married as after the war the family did not have the means to give her a proper dowry. 88 This is indicated by seven flames above her head according to the Acts of Luke 2:3 and the seven spirits of John in Rev. 4:5. Smidlin also refers to Binah as Providentia. 89 Here presented in the form of an anchor to remind one of the crucifixion. See Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 76.

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figure 7 The pregnant woman from Revelations 12 at the position of Yesod ( foundation / fundament), the 9th sefira

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figure 8 Mary with little Jesus at the place of the 6th sefira Tifʾeret (splendor)

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figure 9 The three highest Sefirot: Keter (crown) in the middle, Hokhmah (wisdom), right, Binah (understanding) left preexistent Logos. According to Jewish tradition, personified wisdom stands for God’s architect and muse.90 In the picture, however, this sefira has less a cosmo- logical function than a salvific one. She is holding the communion chalice and wafer, and left of her is a water pitcher, signifying the sacraments of communion and baptism. These two symbols of Christian faith are complemented by an open book on her legs representing not only Scripture, but also the virtue of Fides (faith). At her feet rests a phoenix as the sign for resurrection and rebirth, an ancient mystical symbol of transformation. In Zoharic literature, the second sefira, Hokhmah is considered to be male. Thus it could here represent Christ in his elevated form after the resurrection. However, in the painting this sefira is also presented as female, like all the other sefirot except for Malkhut. The composition is topped with a crown decorated with four jewels (Figure 10). On each of these four gems appear Hebrew letters or words. The top middle

90 As described in various interpretations of the Wisdom of Salomon 8:22–23. Peter Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty. Feminine Images of God from the Bible to the Early Kabbalah (Prince- ton, 2004).

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figure 10 Upper Crown above the sefirotic system, with the initials Antonia of Württemberg (a and v, surrounded by the letter o, referring to Rev. 1:8); below, on top of the cupola, one finds Moses, Elijah, and Enoch gem has the Hebrew letters aleph (“beginning,” “father,” “the name Ehyeh”). The gem below it is labeled shin, the sign for Christ according to Reuchlin’s De Verbo Mirificio.91The two remaining stones carry the inscriptions Hu and Natan (“he gave”). This inscription probably refers to the beginning of creation as an active impulse of the divine.92 Around the crown, connecting the upper part with the three lower figures, the 24 elders from Revelations 4:4 praise God as the Almighty.93 Antonia’s emblem is placed under the crown with the anchor

91 Reuchlin, De Verbo Mirificio 1494, sig. g 5r; cf. von Stuckrad, “Rewriting the Book of Nature (see above, n. 69),” 433; Charles Zika, “Reuchlin’s De Verbo Mirificio and the Magic Debate of the Late Fifteenth Century,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 39 (1976), 104–138. See Figure 10 below and the letter shin in the middle of the crown above the letters a and v. 92 On creation in kabbalistic literature, see Gershom Scholem, “Schöpfung aus dem Nichts und Selbstverschränkung Gottes,”Eranos-Jahrbuch 25 (1956), 87–119. 93 These 24 elders have been interpreted differently: a) as the 24 Temple priests (1Chron. 24: 7–18), b) the number of the apostles plus the number of patriarchs, c) the 24 star gods of

Church History and ReligiousDownloaded Culture from 98 Brill.com10/05/2021 (2018) 56–90 09:54:33AM via free access the kabbalistic “teaching panel” of princess antonia 87 symbolizing the Christian faith. Her name is inscribed in heaven to reveal that she has been received among the community of believers.94 Moses (middle), Elijah (left) and Enoch (right), who had been taken to heaven without having died, are visualized under Antonia’s monogram, above the three highest sefirot (Figure 10). According to the Zohar, Enoch had received a book from the angels in order to explain the ways of God. In kabbalistic literature, Enoch often stands for the concept of transformation, because he was transformed into the angel Metatron, without having to die.95 Moses, of course, is regarded as the highest prophet, since he was the only one to experience God directly, both in the burning bush and in hearing the name of God, “I am who I am” (Ex. 3:13–15). In contrast to the other prophets who received divine revelation “as through a cloudy mirror,” Moses received knowledge of the divine through “the speculum that shines” (haʾaspaqlaria haMeʾira).96 Elijah, the third of the trio, holds a sword in his hand reminding the spectator of his violent opposition to the heathen priests of Baʾal. Between Moses and the woman with the white dress signifying Keter, God the Father holds the cosmic globe in his left hand and angels stand at his feet. This depiction follows Daniel’s vision about the divine throne, judgment, and the Son of Man (7:9–14 and 10:4). However, in place of Keter, where one would expect to see God the Father, a female figure in a white dress appears. Her head is surrounded by seven eyes (Sacharja 4:10), representing the omniscience of God (Figure 10). In her left hand, she holds the flaming heart, also held by Antonia at the bottom of the painting. The three figures of Keter, Hokhmah and Binah, (figure 9) are grouped around a banner, inscribed with three geo- metrical figures—a circle, square, and triangle. They signify both the Trinity

Babylonian mythology. Cf. Russell Morton, “Glory to God and to the Lamb: John’s Use of Jewish and Hellenistic / Roman Themes in Formatting His Theology in Revelations 4–5,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 83 (2001), 89–109, here 96–99. 94 Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 79–81. 95 On the complex role of Enoch / Metatron in kabbalistic literature and its transition to Christian Kabbalah, see Moshe Idel, “Enoch the Mystical Cobbler,” Kabbalah 5 (2000), 220–240; id., “Adam and Enoch According to St. Ephrem the Syrian,” Kabbalah 6 (2001), 197–218; id., “Enoch is Metatron,” Immanuel 24/25 (1990), 220–240, id., “Enoch and Elijah: Some Remarks on Apotheosis, Theophany and Jewish Mysticism,” in The Salt Companion to Harold Bloom, ed. Graham Allen and Roy Sellars (Cambridge, 2007), 347–377; Daniel Abrams, “Metatron and Jesus. The Long Durée of Rabbinic and Kabbalistic Traditions. An Eighteenth-Century Manual of Christian Proselytizing in German and Yiddish,”Kabbalah 27 (2012), 13–105. 96 Ex. 24 and in Christianity 2Cor. 3:18. Cf. Elliot Wolfson, Through a Speculum that Shines. Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism (Princeton, 1997).

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figure 11 High Priest in the Holy of Holies, center of the inner painting. The priest is flanked by Moses and Joshua on the left and John the Baptist and the apostle Paul on the right. and the kabbalistic idea of an expansion from point to line to area and space in divine creation and the emanation of the sefirot.97 The threefold Qadosh— “holy, holy, holy” also called the trisagion (Isaiah 6:3) and the Tetragrammaton are also found on this banner, where the divine name Ehyeh is usually placed in kabbalistic literature. But since Antonia has used that name for the upper crown, here she uses the name yhwh as the starting point of creational emanation and divine blessing. Moving down the middle axis of the picture, the beholder of the painting is led into the “Holy of Holies.” The High Priest wearing the traditional breast plate is in the center. The crucified Christ flanks him on the right and the serpent of Eden—symbolically crucified—is on his left (Figure 11). This image presents the Christian Church as the New Temple and paradise.98 The seven steps leading into the innermost part of the temple follow Ezekiel’s description

97 Morlok, Gikatilla’s Hermeneutics (see above, n. 28), 83–108, 188–190. 98 Similarly, in late midrashic and early kabbalistic sources there is a close connection between the Temple cult and kabbalistic exegesis and ritual. Maurizio Mottelese, Analogy in Midrash and Kabbalah: Interpretive Projections of the Sanctuary and Ritual (Los Angeles, 2007). Cf. Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 68–70.

Church History and ReligiousDownloaded Culture from 98 Brill.com10/05/2021 (2018) 56–90 09:54:33AM via free access the kabbalistic “teaching panel” of princess antonia 89 of the temple (Ez. 40:22 and 26), a passage that lay Christians would have recognized. At the same time, the initiated spectator would have recognized the seven lower sefirot below Binah (understanding) and Malkhut (kingdom), referring to the seven days of creation and the final, paradisiacal Shabbat at the end of time.99 Left and right to the temple entrance appear the two columns of the First Jerusalem Temple, called Yahin and Boaz. Here they have been reinstated. In the Holy of Holies and left to the high priest stand two representatives of the old covenant, Moses with the stone tablets and Joshua, dressed as a Roman soldier.100 On the opposite side, John the Baptist and the apostle Paul stand as representatives of the new covenant.While John and Paul point to the crucified Jesus, Moses and Joshua point in the direction of the serpent. The figures are thus not focused on Aaron, the High Priest, but instead direct attention to other figures. Aaron holds an almond branch, a reference to Temple sacrifices and even he points with his left hand to indicate that he is no longer the true High Priest, but Christ (Hebrews 9:11–12). This composition communicates that the old covenant has been replaced by the new one. Apocalyptic motifs such as the last battle at Edom appear in various places in the picture (Figure 4, left side of the cupola). A warrior angel with hel- met, sword, and shield fights against the powers of evil, the angels of darkness according to Revelations 12: 7–9. The warrior angel is being helped by Michael and two other angels, but the dragon has seven assistants, rendered here as strange human-animal hybrids. These are the seven demons or the personifi- cation of the seven “deadly sins” in Christianity. The battle between good and evil in human beings is a central theme in rabbinic and kabbalistic literature. However, the main battle in the sefirotic system is taking place at the lowest and weakest part of the system, around Malkhut (kingdom). The painting transfers this battle to the heavenly realm, as the victorious Christ in the place of Malkhut is no longer attacked. This lowest, female part of the sefirotic system is usually threatened by demonic powers who try to gain access to the divine system. It is the mystic’s task to elevate and save the female part of the sefirotic system with his good deeds, his

99 Scholem, Origins (see above, n. 66), 463. The seven steps also refer to the seven biblical aspects of God, signified by the seven lower sefirot in kabbalistic literature, and discussed also by Böhme; cf. Martin, “Schöpfung bei Böhme” in Grund und Ungrund: Der Kosmos des mystischen Philosophen Jacob Böhme, ed. Claudia Brink and Lucinda Martin (Dresden, 2017), 82–103, here 87–89. 100 See the detailed description of the columns in Betz, Licht vom unerschaffnen Lichte (see above, n. 1), 82f.

Church History and Religious Culture 98 (2018) 56–90Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 09:54:33AM via free access 90 morlok contemplative prayers and even through his mystical union with her.101 Yet, in Antonia’s picture no signs of such a battle can be found in the lower part. The only hints of something negative are in the angels of darkness on the left side of the cupola and in the dark clouds on the outer bridal painting. Those clouds symbolize the “hidden” nature of God (Sod, secret), the Deus Absconditus, just as the inner painting represents the Deus Revelatus, and the “New Jerusalem,” the soul’s ascent to its origin and its true knowledge of God’s glory (Kavod).

6 Conclusion

In interpreting the imagery of Princess Antonia’s altarpiece, a twofold layer- ing of symbols and meanings becomes apparent. On one level, the artwork employs emblems and symbols familiar to a general Christian audience that the layperson could easily access for the purposes of Christian devotion and spiritual benefit. On another level, the expert spectator with knowledge of Hebrew and kabbalistic traditions could contemplate the picture in its depth and gain “esoteric” insights. These latter viewers could refer to kabbalistic sources in order to understand the “deeper” meaning of the panel. Antonia and her teachers obviously saw it as their task to translate these esoteric secrets into a visual system. While the paintings present a double hermeneutic, they are absent of any hierarchical difference between the two intended audiences. After all, Antonia describes herself as a layperson, although she and her teachers had substantial knowledge of Jewish mystical literature. Instead, Princess Antonia’s altarpiece testifies to the Early Modern belief that old and new systems of knowledge, exoteric and esoteric knowledge must be combined in order to redeem the cosmos through wisdom and faith, thus helping to institute the “New Jerusalem” as a place for both experts and laypeople.

101 Moshe Idel, “On Jerusalem as a Feminine and Sexual Hypostasis: From Late Antiquity Sources to Medieval Kabbalah,” in Memory, Humanity, and Meaning; Selected Essays in Honor of Andrei Pleşu’s Sixtieth Anniversary, eds. Mihail Neamƫu and Bogdan Tátaru- Cazaban (Cluj, 2009), 28.

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