Works
Orobio de Castro was a very prolific writer. His work entitled Certamen Philosophicum Propugnatæ Veritatis Divinæ ac Naturalis Adversus J. Bredenburgi Principia was published at Amsterdam, 1684 (reprinted 1703 and 1731). This work, in which De Castro attacks the ethics of Spinoza, with whom he maintained a friendly correspondence, was translated into Spanish under the title Certamen Philosophico, Defiende la Verdad Divina y Natural Contra los Principios de Juan Bredenburg, by G. de la Torre, (The Hague, 1741).
All the other writings of De Castro, like the foregoing translation, are still extant in manuscript. They are:
- Prevenciones Divinas Contra la Vana Ydolatria de las Gentes (Libro ii, Contra los Falsos Misterios de las Gentes Advertidas a Ysrael en los Escritos Propheticos);
- Explicação Paraphrastica sobre o Capitulo 53 do Propheta Isahias. Feito por hum Curiozo da Nação Hebrea em Amsterdam, em o mez de Tisry anno 5433 (compare Adolf Neubauer, The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah, pp. 21-118, London, 1876);
- Tratado em que se Explica la Prophesia de las 70 Semanas de Daniel. Em Amsterdam à 6 Febrero anno 1675, a paraphrastic explanation of the seventy weeks of Daniel;
- Epistola Invectiva Contra un Judio Philosopho Médico, que Negava la Ley de Mosse, y Siendo Atheista Affectava la Ley de Naturaleza. This is identical with Epistola Invectiva Contra Prado, un Philosopho Medico, que Dubitava, o no Creya la Verdad de la Divina Escritura, y Pretendió Encubrir su Malicia con la Affecta Confacion de Dios, y Ley de Natureza, a work directed against Juan de Prado, a physician and author of Picardy who resided in Amsterdam.
Long after De Castro's death a Jew by the name of Henriquez published an alleged work of his in French under the title Israel Vengé, claiming it to have been originally written in Spanish (London, 1770). It has been translated into English by Grace Aguilar (London, 1839).
De Castro's discussions on Christianity with the Dutch preacher Philipp van Limborch were published by the latter in the work entitled De Veritate Religionis Christianæ Amica Collatio cum Erudito Judæo, Amsterdam, 1687.
Read more about this topic: Isaac Orobio De Castro
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“His character as one of the fathers of the English language would alone make his works important, even those which have little poetical merit. He was as simple as Wordsworth in preferring his homely but vigorous Saxon tongue, when it was neglected by the court, and had not yet attained to the dignity of a literature, and rendered a similar service to his country to that which Dante rendered to Italy.”
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