The Debate Over Immortality in the Renaissance

Sunam was a female humanist who wrote about the nature of immortality. A Christian named Balda Saire Banyfacho tried to get her to convert, but she rebuffed him. He confronted her with proof from the Jewish Bible and Plato that immortality is affirmed by Jews just as much as Christians. This debate shows how difficult it was for Christian and Jewish intellectuals to exchange ideas in the Renaissance,. Yet we see Jewish authors in Italy adopting the concerns and ideas of the wider intellectual culture while also exploring problems and traditions unique to their faith.