The More Select and Obscure Dogmas of the Kabbalists

...of various languages: Hebrew, namely, Chaldean original: "Chaldei." In this period, "Chaldean" was the standard term used by scholars to refer to the Aramaic language, particularly the dialects used in the Targums and the Zohar., Greek, and Arabic. And he himself assigns the reasons for this, saying: so that the learned may know how to translate faithfully into Latin and teach others, and so that people of various languages might be more easily and better instructed. For the meanings of Holy Scripture are more clearly gathered and more easily persuaded to others in their own mother tongue (as they say) than in a foreign one.

Nor has God, the Best and Greatest original: "Deus Opt. Max." (Deus Optimus Maximus). A title for the Divine borrowed from Roman inscriptions to Jupiter, frequently used by Renaissance humanists to bridge classical and Christian thought., raised up so many and such great men in this time of ours who study Hebrew for no reason. I believe He does this so that those mysteries which have remained hidden until now might be brought into the light. For this reason, we ought not to despise such studies, unless perhaps we wish to appear ignorant, providing an occasion for contempt to those who wish to gather the true meanings of Scripture.

But now, most sincere reader, it is time that we defend the truth itself rather than the sayings of men. For your goodness knows full well that in many things Jerome Saint Jerome (c. 347–420 AD), the scholar responsible for the Vulgate, the standard Latin Bible. disagrees with Augustine Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), whose theological writings shaped Western Christianity., and Scotus Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308), a major Scholastic philosopher known for his complex "Subtle" reasoning. from Thomas Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the preeminent Dominican theologian. and Henry Likely Henry of Ghent (c. 1217–1293), a prominent philosopher at the University of Paris whose views often countered those of Aquinas.. For this reason, the oracles themselves original: "oracula." Here referring to the divinely inspired original texts of the Bible. must be diligently inspected and considered with a proper examination, from which (as Plato rightly feels) we ought to be taught concerning divine matters.

It must also be noted that in interpreting the scriptures, we should not be bound to any one person, nor swear by the words of any master A famous phrase from the Roman poet Horace: "Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri." It was a common motto for scholars emphasizing independent thought., except for the most Holy Church and the Holy Scripture, whose passages (as is the custom of truly wise men) we ought to clarify one by means of another. We should not do this through philosophy, nor through the sayings of those devoted to philosophy; for Paul says: See to it that no one seduces you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition original: "Videte ne quis vos seducat..." A quote from the New Testament, Colossians 2:8.. }

In these things and in all my sayings and writings, I always submit myself to the judgment of the most Holy Roman Church and of skilled men, and I believe nothing beyond or short of what she, my mother the Church, believes.

Farewell, and pray to God for me.