scholarly journals Samuel Hirsch, Hegel, and the Legacy of Ethical Monotheism

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Erlewine
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Developmental History ◽  
Religious Philosophy ◽  
History Of Religion ◽  
Basic Strategy ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Genesis 3 ◽  
Hermann Cohen

AbstractThis essay examines Samuel Hirsch’s Religious Philosophy of the Jews as a forerunner of twentieth-century works of ethical monotheism in modern Jewish thought. In particular, it explores Hirsch’s use of the dichotomy between monotheism and idolatry as a way to resist Hegel’s attempts to incorporate Judaism into his developmental history of religion. Hirsch frames his opposition to the Hegelian account of religion by means of providing a rival interpretation of Genesis 3 to that offered by Hegel in the Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion. After juxtaposing Hegel’s and Hirsch’s respective interpretations of Genesis 3, I explore Hirsch’s account of religion, which, unlike Hegel’s, is presented in terms of the dichotomy of true and false religion. Finally, I will briefly highlight how Hirsch’s basic strategy for understanding Judaism vis-à-vis other religions—namely, casting the dichotomy between monotheism and idolatry in starkly ethical terms—is taken up and utilized by Hermann Cohen and Emmanuel Levinas in the twentieth century.

Jacob Gordin and the Anti-Spinozist Legacy of Hermann Cohen in France

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ori Werdiger
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Leo Strauss ◽  
Distinct Form ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Russian Intelligentsia ◽  
Hermann Cohen ◽  
Point Of Departure

Hermann Cohen is often described as the last in a line of German idealist, or Jewish rationalist, thinkers. This article, instead, takes Cohen as a point of departure, tracing his distinct form of anti-Spinozism which was transmitted to France by the Russian émigré philosopher of religion Jacob Gordin. It considers the engagements by Cohen, Leo Strauss, and Gordin with Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise, and examines the role an essay by Gordin played in bringing Cohen's view to francophone Jewish audiences and in defending Cohen's reading of Spinoza against Strauss's critique. The article then treats the postwar redeployments of Gordin's essay by Emmanuel Levinas and the historian of anti-Semitism Léon Poliakov against the Zionist and Spinozist views promoted by David Ben-Gurion. Attention to the overlooked centrality of Gordin demonstrates the importance of Russian intelligentsia as carriers of Cohen's legacy, highlights the presence of Cohen's anti-Spinozist views in postwar French and French Jewish thought, and introduces another site within the reception history of Spinoza in the twentieth century.

Cohen, Hermann (1842–1918)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Zank
Keyword(s):  
Major Influence ◽  
Religious Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Position ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
The Core ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Religion Of Reason ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Hermann Cohen

Hermann Cohen was the founder of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism and a major influence on twentieth-century Jewish thought. Die Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums (Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism) (1919) is widely credited with the renewal of Jewish religious philosophy. Cohen’s philosophy of Judaism is inextricably linked with his general philosophical position. But his system of critical idealism in logic, ethics, aesthetics and psychology did not originally include a philosophy of religion. The mainly Protestant Marburg School in fact regarded Cohen’s Jewish philosophy as an insufficient solution to the philosophical problem of human existence and to that of determining the role of religion in human culture. Thinkers who favoured a new, more existentialist approach in Jewish thought, however, saw Cohen’s introduction of religion into the system as a daring departure from the confines of philosophical idealism. Cohen identified the central Jewish contribution to human culture as the development of a religion that unites historical particularity with ethical universality. At the core of this religion of reason is the interdependence of the idea of God and that of the human being. Cohen derives this theme from the Jewish canon through a philosophical analysis based on his transcendental idealism.

Covenant, History, and the Holocaust: Revisiting Emil Fackenheim's Jewish Philosophy

2016 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-143
Author(s):  
Daniel Rynhold
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Introductory Courses ◽  
Franz Rosenzweig ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Historical Circumstance ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Lasting Impression ◽  
Jewish Philosophy ◽  
Modern Judaism ◽  
Hermann Cohen

In the twentieth century, historical circumstance in the form of the Holocaust led to theodicy's returning to the forefront of the philosophical agenda, particularly in Jewish thought. As a result, post-Holocaust theology is almost always an element of introductory courses on modern and contemporary Jewish philosophy, if not introductory courses on modern Judaism simpliciter. Many working in the field of Jewish philosophy, therefore, probably first encounter Emil Fackenheim (1916–2003), and the infamous turn of phrase that ensured his immortality in the realm of Jewish thought, early on in their studies. Fackenheim was one of the most influential post-Holocaust philosophical voices in what soon became a cacophony. This German-born philosopher's (and ordained Reform rabbi's) concept of the 614th commandment—not to grant Hitler a posthumous victory (in his own words “the only statement of mine that ever became famous”)—has captured the imagination of many a student and often made a lasting impression. Yet it seems that one of the concerns at the forefront of this new expansive monograph on Fackenheim's philosophy is that for the majority, this constitutes both their first and last exposure to his thought, leaving them with an extremely contracted view of his conceptual palate. The result, noted in the book's introduction, is that Fackenheim has never really been considered a Jewish philosopher worthy of mention in the same breath as Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, or even latterly Emmanuel Levinas and Joseph Soloveitchik. In this volume, a case is presented for including him on that list.

scholarly journals Religious Development: C. P. Tiele's Paradigm of Science of Religion

Numen ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arie Molendijk
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
German Idealism ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Developmental History ◽  
Religious Development ◽  
Fundamental Notion ◽  
History Of Religion ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Science Of Religion

AbstractThis essay explores C. P. Tiele's fundamental notion of religious development and, in a certain respect, it complements my earlier paper on his concept of religion, which he ultimately locates "in the innermost depths of our souls" (Numen 46 [1999]). The present article argues that the mere possibility of an interrelated, comparative study of religions (in the plural) is founded on the idea of a developmental history of religion (in the singular). To Tiele, this history testifies to the fact that the changing and transient forms of religion are ultimately inadequate expressions of the infinite in us. Thus, his "science" ties in perfectly with his liberal Protestantism. I start with some remarks on the use of the concept of religious development in the nineteenth century, then I outline Tiele's basic assumptions (with special reference to his 1874 article on the laws of development), and, finally, I scrutinize the first series of the Gifford Lectures (1896–1898), which epitomize his later views on religious development. It is shown that developmental thinking in early Dutch science of religion did not originate primarily in Darwinian thought but in German idealism. Moreover, one has to keep in mind that Tiele's developmental views met severe criticism among his successors. For instance, Gerardus van der Leeuw rejected the whole idea of religious progress because it did not comply with the unique and absolute character of religious experience. Thus, contrary to Eric Sharpe's suggestion, evolutionism was not dominant in Dutch religious studies throughout the period between the wars.

The Decline of Christianity in Twentieth-Century Britain

1996 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas William Heyck
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social History ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Church Membership ◽  
British Society ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
History Of Religion ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Statistical Surveys

The history of religion in Britain—as distinct from church or ecclesiastical history—is making an impressive comeback in the consciousness of historians, with important implications for British cultural and social history. Not least affected is the history of Britain in the twentieth century. Fifteen years ago, the well-known social historian Alan Gilbert published his The Making of Post-Christian Britain, which soon became the standard account of the secularization of British society since the eighteenth century. Taking off from careful statistical surveys of Christian church membership and participation that he had done in two earlier books, and looking for explanation to a very broad range of cultural, economic, and social factors, Gilbert presented an argument that has seemed so powerful as to be an almost irresistible account of the apparent fact of the secularization of Britain. More recently, however, both religious historians and sociologists of religion have begun to question not only Gilbert's premises and argument, but also the very concept of secularization. The result of this questioning, exemplified by the books here reviewed, is a major controversy concerning the recent history of religion in Britain.

Florenskii, Pavel Aleksandrovich (1882–1937)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Slesinski
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Doctoral Dissertation ◽  
Philosophical Work ◽  
Religious Philosophy ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of

A figure of genius in the history of twentieth-century Russian religious philosophy, Florenskii did much to influence the directions of subsequent Russian thought, both within the Soviet Union and abroad in the Russian diaspora. Florenskii’s originality is most noticeable in his chief philosophical work, Stolp i utverzhdenie istiny (The Pillar and Foundation of Truth) (1914), a somewhat eclectic and romantic work in which he sets forth his basic tenets in epistemology and sophiology. The work, which was his doctoral dissertation, represents a decisive rejection of rationalist and Western-orientated religious philosophy and theology in favour of a more concrete and experiential methodology.

Maimonides and Eretz Yisrael: Halakhic, Philosophic, and Historical Perspectives

1991 ◽  
pp. 257-290
Author(s):  
Isadore Twersky
Keyword(s):  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Indirect Approach ◽  
History Of Religion ◽  
Historical Perspectives ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
Shed Light

This chapter describes Maimonides’ attitude and attachment to Eretz Yisrael. The difficulty of a discussion concerning Maimonides and Eretz Yisrael is threefold: the complexity of the man and the problematic nature of his teaching; the delicacy of the subject and the importance of its implications; and the scarcity or fragmentation of sources. The chapter then suggests an indirect approach to the subject, via consideration of a number of central topics in Maimonides’ thought, topics which are, in any case, central to Jewish thought in general, and specifically to see what place Eretz Yisrael holds and what its function is in the formation of Maimonides’ attitudes. A wide range of topics that are worthy of consideration and will shed light on the subject may be noted. These topics include the history of religion — the principle focus being the spread of monotheism — and the history of the halakhah, particularly the appearance of controversy in the Oral Law and the growth of custom, as well as the compilation of the Mishnah and the Talmud despite the prohibition against writing down the Oral Law. Other topics are the history of philosophy, prophecy, prayer, the Hebrew language, and the religious establishment. In all of these, the influence of the territorial dimension, or the lack thereof, and its replacement by another historical dimension, needs to be investigated.

scholarly journals Cycling

Transfers ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-164
Author(s):  
Peter Cox
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Developmental History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Concurrent Development

The mechanized mobility practices that came to dominate road use in the twentieth century—using cars, motorbikes, and bicycles—have been notable for the concurrent development of accompanying print literatures in the form of magazines and newspapers. The developmental history of each mode can be told through a number of distinct lenses, each revealing a part of the story of the mobility technology in use. In the context of a renaissance in cycling, there is an emergence of a new style of bicycle magazine that breaks the mould of previous journals.

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