CARRASCO or CARASCON, JUAN:
Apologist; born at Madrid about 1670, of Marano parentage. At first an Augustin friar at Burgos and an excellent preacher, he later, on a journey to Rome, became a convert to Judaism at Leghorn. He was familiar with the writings of Moses b. Naḥman, Isaac Abravanel, and others, and while in Holland (probably at Amsterdam, where he was circumcised) he wrote in Spanish his "Apology of Judaism." This work was published at Nodriza (The Hague) in 1633, and was later incorporated in the "Coleccion de Reformadores Españoles," published by Wiffen, who believed Carrasco to have been a Protestant.
Bibliography:
- Kayserling, Biblioteca Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 35;
- Danielillo, Danielillo ó Respuestas à los Cristianos, pp. 68 et seq., Brussels, 1868;
- Steinschneider, in Hebr. Bibl. x. 84;
- De Rossi, Bibl. Jud. Antichrist, p. 23.
