Jeremy Rosen Online

I am offering this unedited early version of a project I have picked up
and then put down many times in recent years. I have for a long time
suspected that Shabbtai Zvi has a worse reputation than he deserved
and I have tried to identify with him in certain respects. But in writing
his ‘autobiography’ I have found myself dragged too often into arcane
discussions on religious themes. I am still not sure if they should or
should not be part of this book. I use arguments that might sound strange
to many moderns although much of the religious world continues to use
outdated theology. I have tried to keep to ideas that were current during
Shabbtai’s period either in Europe or the Orient. In this draft form I
have left them in awaiting comments and suggestions that will be
incorporated in a ‘Second’ or perhaps really a ‘First’ edition.

Jeremy Rosen 2011