Abstract
Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Mühlhausen (d. 1421) was one of the most versatile Ashkenazic scholars of the late Middle Ages. A halakhic authority as well as a student of Maimonidean philosophy and Kabbalah, he is nevertheless best remembered as the author of Sefer nizahon, a widely disseminated polemical handbook.
Sefer nizahon is not directed exclusively against Christians - Lipmann rallied arguments against Jewish dissenters as well - however, the refutation of Christian dogma plays an important role in this work. Indeed, soon after its composition, Sefer nizahon became a target for the counter-attacks of Christian Hebraists.
In this paper, I shall explore Lipmann's polemical strategies and his description of Jewish-Christian interactions in Sefer nizahon, and examine whether they reflect shifts in the wider cultural and intellectual climate at the turn of the fifteenth century. Furthermore, I shall take a closer look at Lipmann's famous description of the public disputation he held with a Jewish apostate named Pesach in 1399, and suggest the possible historical background underlying this narrative.