The censor as a mediator: printing, censorship and the shaping of Hebrew literature

The discussion on early modern censorship has significantly expanded in recent decades, and has become a fundamental element in the dis- cussion of early modern culture. Following Paul Grendler and Antonio Rotondo`’s pioneering studies, many other scholars have contributed new dimensions to this issue, before and after the opening of the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (ACDF).1 These studies point up the complexity of the process, and its important role in the formation of cultural boundaries and the advancement of new modes of control. This discussion can also be viewed as part of the revision in the historiography concentrated on early modern Catholi- cism, and, in particular, of new approaches to the study of the Roman Inquisition, its historical role, and its attitude towards different bodies of knowledge. The control of knowledge is one aspect that challenges the image of the Catholic Church as a monolithic body opposed to any form of knowledge.2 It reveals the internal debate, the objection to a severe policy of prohibition, and also the role of censorship in establishing modern patterns of control. Within another dimension, the discussion of ecclesiastical censorship was also integrated into the con- tinuous discussion on the “print revolution” and the study of the vari- ous agents associated with the transition to print. From this point of view, censors were examined vis-a`-vis other agents who participated in the production of literacy through the transition to print.