This source deals with the Foreword to the curricular catalogue of the
Academic High
School of
Hamburg (1613-1883) for the years 1810-1811, also containing a
look back at the previous two
years. The
Academic High School was a precursor of the
University of Hamburg. The
Foreword was written by the then rector and reformer of the
school,
Johann Gottfried Gurlitt,
who, from 1802 until 1827 held
the professorship for Oriental languages. In this Foreword,
Gurlitt discusses his vision
of structural and curricular reforms for the
school and, at the same time,
raises a passionate defense of the field he practiced. In his pronouncements
concerning the study of the Hebrew language, changes in the Christian view of
Judaism in the course of the
Enlightenment are manifest, changes which, to be sure, express
ambivalence on the question of the status of
civil equality for the Jewish population, even
among comparatively well-meaning intellectuals.
Johann Gottfried Gurlitt, Observations Concerning Preparatory Instruction for the University, especially in Hebrew, Hamburg, 1810 in: Notice of Lectures in the Academic High School of Hamburgakademisches Gymnasium, held from Easter 1809 until Easter 1810, as well as Announcement of Lectures from Easter 1810 until Easter 1811, Hamburg 1810, pp. 3-16, here pp. 9-10. (translated by Richard S. Levy), edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History,
<https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-46.en.v1> [December 21, 2024].
