Antonini's main motive was to penetrate the mysteries of the Cabala. Ægidius belonged to the group of sixteenth century Christian cabalists, among whom Johann Reuchlin and Pico della Mirandola also were prominent, who believed that Jewish mysticism, and particularly the "Zohar", contained incontrovertible testimony to the truth of the Christian religion. In the course of Reuchlin's conflict with the obscurantists (1507–21), in which the preservation of the Jewish books was at issue, the cardinal wrote (1516) to his friend: "While we labor on thy behalf, we defend not thee, but the law; not the "Talmud", but the Church."