SPENCER, JOHN.
De Legibus Hebraeorum, Ritualibus et Earum Rationibus.

De Legibus Hebraeorum, Ritualibus et Earum Rationibus.

First edition. Three parts in one. Lightly foxed, dampwrinkled. Recent morocco backed boards. Folio.

Cambridge: Richard Chiswel, 1685.

A pioneering work of comparative religion, Spencer (1630-93) posits here that Judaism was not the world’s earliest religion but was influenced by Near Eastern culture. Deriving most of his sources from the Bible, early Church literature and the ancient classics, Spencer, an accomplished Hebraist, was strongly criticized following the publication of this thesis. See EJ, Vol. VIII, col. 58.