The Unsung Buber-Leibowitz Coda to the German Jewish Swan Song

Naharaim ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Rubinstein ◽  
Ynon Wygoda
Keyword(s):  
Martin Buber ◽  
German Language ◽  
National Library ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Bible ◽  
German Jewish ◽  
Biblical Scholar

Abstract Among the hidden treasures squirreled away in the archives of Israel’s National Library lies a fragmented correspondence that sheds new light on the afterlife of a project that was long deemed the farewell gift to the German language and culture from the remnants of its Jewry. It is an exchange of letters between two scholars, whose interest in the German rendition of the Bible occupied them for many years, first in Germany, and later in the land where Hebrew was vernacular and where one might think there would no longer be a need for translations of the Bible; particularly not into a language that aroused considerable aversion in the aftermath of the war. And yet, the 1963–64 exchange between the two Jerusalemites, the Vienna-born and Frankfurt-crowned philosopher, theologian, and translator Martin Buber and the Riga-born, Berlin- and Marburg-educated biblical scholar Nechama Leibowitz tells a different story. It shows they both believed the project that began under the title Die Schrift, zu verdeutschen unternommen should be revised once again, after its completion so as to underline its ongoing relevance for present and future readings of the Bible tout court, in German and Hebrew speaking lands alike.

„Ein modernes Verdeutschungs-Unternehmen“. Über die historische Semantik der Buber-Rosenzweig-Bibel

Naharaim ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inka Sauter
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
General Public ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Martin Buber ◽  
German Language ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Historical Semantics ◽  
Fault Lines ◽  
German Jewish ◽  
The 19Th Century

Abstract This article traces a debate on Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig’s Germanization of the Bible. The trigger of the debate was Siegfried Kracauer’s infamous critique entitled “Die Bibel auf Deutsch” (“The Bible in German”), published in April 1926 in the Frankfurter Zeitung. In his harsh review of the first volume of the translation, Kracauer regards the use of the German language by Buber and Rosenzweig as an archaization. Relying in part on unpublished letters, this paper presents and explores the different perceptions of the translation, which embody the depths these fault lines penetrated both in general public discourse and, more specifically, in German-Jewish circles. This article also points towards the change of the German language in the 19th century that is embedded in the historical semantics of the Buber-Rosenzweig Bible.

Book reviews

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-198
Author(s):  
Lars Aejmelaeus ◽  
Karl-Erich Grözinger ◽  
Tryggve Kronholm ◽  
Karl-Gustav Sandelin ◽  
Svante Lundgren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Martin Buber ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Jewish Intellectuals

Paulus und das Judentum. Antropologische Erwägungen (Timo Laato, 1991 diss.) is reviewed by Lars Aejmelaeus.Moses Hess on religion. Judaism and the Bible (Svante Lundgren, 1992) is reviewed by Karl-Erich Grözinger.Abraham ibn Ezra y su tiempo / Abraham ibn Ezra and his age (ed. Fernando Diaz Esteban, 1990) is reviewed by Tryggve Kronholm.Kommentar till påskhaggadan (Nils Martola, 1988) is reviewed by Tryggve Kronholm.Pilatusbilledet i den antike jødedom og kristendom (Niels Willert, 1989) is reviewed by Karl-Gustav Sandelin.Die unterlegene Religion. Das Judentum im Urteil deutscher Alttestamentler. Kritik theologischer Geschichtsschreibung (Ulrich Kusche, 1991) is reviewed by Svante Lundgren.Judentum im deutschen Sprachraum (ed. Karl E. Grözinger, 1991) is reviewed by Svante Lundgren.Jiddische Sprachgeschichte (Bettina Simon, 1988) is reviewed by Theodor Katz.Kinesiske jøder (Jens Christian Larsen, 1991) is reviewed by Theodor Katz.Människan och hennes bildkonst (Martin Buber, 1991) is reviewed by Siv Illman.Kuolleen meren kirjakääröt. Qumranin tekstit suomeksi (ed. Raija Sollamo, 1991) is reviewed by Antti Laato.Fortolkning som formidling. Om den bibliske eksegeses funktion (eds. Lone Fatum & Eduard Nielsen, 1992) is reviewed by Roger Syrén.Alkukirkko ja juutalaisuus (eds. Anne-Marit Enroth-Voitila, Matti Myllykoski, 1991) is reviewed by Nils Martola.Short notice by Nils Martola.Motståndet. Arton brev om död och liv (Per Ahlmark & Georg Klein, 1991) is reviewed by Karl-Johan Illman.Judarna i det svenska samhället. Identitet, integration, etniska relationer (ed. Kerstin Nyström, 1991) is reviewed by Karl-Johan Illman.Divided passions. Jewish intellectuals and the experience of modernity (Paul Mendes-Flohr, 1991) is reviewed by Karl-Johan Illman.

Ein „Zusammengehen ohne Zusammenkommen“. Der Entstehungsprozess des intellektuellen Netzwerkes um die Zeitschrift Die Kreatur

Naharaim ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 73-97
Author(s):  
Enrico Rosso
Keyword(s):  
Formation Process ◽  
Martin Buber ◽  
Analytical Representation ◽  
Problematic Relationship ◽  
Research Article ◽  
German Jewish ◽  
Intellectual Environment ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract This research article aims to deliver an analytical representation of the intellectual environment of the culture journal Die Kreatur (1926–1930), a religious-dialogical quarterly edited by Martin Buber, Joseph Wittig, and Viktor von Weizsäcker and enlivened by some of the most prominent figures of German-Jewish interwar culture (among others W. Benjamin, H. S. Bergman, E. Rosenstock-Huessy, F. Rosenzweig, E. Simon, and L. Strauss). Building on a recognition of the problematic relationship between the dialogical model claimed in the programmatic foreword of the journal and the group narratives enacted by its key contributors, the study attempts to outline the formation process of the intellectual plexus of the journal and to provide a differentiated analysis of its singular constituents via a sociologically informed framework. The representation of the intellectual network of Die Kreatur in accordance with the model of a “circle of circles” provides insight into the elusive dialectic of interaction and divergence that determines the relations between the main actors of the journal and thus contributes to unfold the interplay of biographical intersections and conceptual synergies, as well as incongruities, frictions, and contradictory instances that determines its editorial and philosophical profile.

scholarly journals Biblical studies as a modern humanitarian discipline and its connection with theology

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 502-527
Author(s):  
Mikhail G. Seleznev ◽  
◽  
Alexander I. Kyrlezhev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Current State ◽  
Biblical Scholar ◽  
Church Tradition

A conversation with the famous Russian biblical scholar Mikhail Seleznev is devoted to the modern humanitarian discipline of biblical studies. The conversation examines the origins of this scientific discipline, its formation and development, internal structure, its connection with other humanitarian disciplines, as well as with theology understood as a reflection of believers on the foundations of their faith. Examples of the achievements in biblical studies in the 19th and 20th centuries are provided, which as a result have changed our understanding of the origin of biblical texts and the context in which they were created. The article analyzes the attitude towards scientific study of the Bible in various Christian confessions, in particular, the perception of biblical studies in the Orthodox community and the related problems of modern church consciousness. The current state and the prospects of development of biblical studies in Russia are reported on in the article. The issue of the so-called “intertestamental studies” and its significance for comprehending early Christianity is discussed, as well as that of biblical exegesis from the point of view of its understanding in modern science and church tradition. Bibliographic recommendations are provided for those who wish to begin a more detailed acquaintance with modern biblical studies.

Biblical Education and the Power of Conversation

2021 ◽  
pp. 76-124
Author(s):  
Michah Gottlieb
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Jewish Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
Reform Jewish ◽  
German Jewish ◽  
Biblical Education

This chapter covers the role of Bible translation in Mendelssohn’s endeavor to effect a reformation Jewish society by reimagining Jewish education. It explores Mendelssohn’s childhood education and his critique of the prevailing system of German Jewish education for males. Mendelssohn’s conception of the goal of education, his view of Yiddish, his understanding of biblical aesthetics, and his account of the roles of the Bible and rabbinic teachings in Jewish education is analyzed. The place of gender and class in Mendelssohn’s approach to Jewish education is investigated. The connection between Mendelssohn’s efforts to reform Jewish education, his attempt to restructure the hierarchy of German Jewish society and his argument for Jewish civil rights are explored. It is argued that Mendelssohn uses Protestantism and Catholicism as conceptual categories to elaborate his enlightened, bourgeois concept of Judaism.

scholarly journals Defining Hellenistic Jews in Nineteenth-Century Germany: The Case of Jacob Bernays and Jacob Freudenthal

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-342
Author(s):  
Paul Michael Kurtz
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
German Jewish ◽  
Hellenistic Judaism ◽  
Jewish Writers

Hellenic language and culture occupy a deeply ambivalent place in the mapping of Jewish history. If the entanglement of the Jewish and the Greek became especially conflicted for modern Jews in philhellenic Europe, nowhere was it more vexed than in the German-speaking lands of the long nineteenth century. Amidst the modern redefinition of what it meant to be Jewish as well as doubts about the genuine Jewishness of Hellenistic Judaism, how did scholars identify Jewish authorship behind ambiguous, fragmented, and interpolated texts – all the more with much of the Hebraic allegedly deprived by the Hellenic? This article not only argues for the contingency of diagnostic features deployed to define the Jewish amidst the Greek but also maintains the embeddedness of those features in nineteenth-century Germany. It scrutinizes the criteria deployed to establish Jewish texts and authors of the Hellenistic period: the claims and qualities assumedly suggestive of Judaism. First, the inquiry investigates which characteristics German Jewish scholars expected to see in Greek-speaking Jewish writers of antiquity, interrogating their procedures and their verdicts. Second, it examines how these expectations of antiquity corresponded to those scholars’ own modern world. The analysis centers on Jacob Bernays (1824–1881) and Jacob Freudenthal (1839–1907), two savants who helped establish the modern study of Hellenistic Judaism. Each overturned centuries of learned consensus by establishing an ancient author – Pseudo-Phocylides and Eupolemus, respectively – as Jewish, rather than Christian or pagan. This article ultimately reveals the subtle entanglements as well as the mutually conditioning forces not only of antiquity and modernity but also of the personal and academic, manifest both in the philological analysis of ancient texts and in the larger historiography of antique Judaism in the Graecophone world.

Martin Luther, Bible Translation, and the German Language

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Lobenstein-Reichmann
Keyword(s):  
Martin Luther ◽  
German Language ◽  
Linguistic Terms ◽  
Important Work ◽  
German Culture ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
History Of ◽  
General Work

In the history of the German language, hardly any other author’s linguistic work is as closely associated with the German language as Martin Luther’s. From the start, Luther as a linguistic event became the embodiment of German culture and was even elevated as the birth of the language itself; his style was emulated by some, scorned by others. Luther forces one to take a position, even on linguistic terms. The Bible is at the heart of the argument, being the most important work of Luther’s translation. However, it is only one particular type of text in the general work of the reformer. The role that the Bible plays both on its own and in connection with Luther’s other works, as well as the traditions Luther drew on and the way he worked with language, will be examined within the matrix of Early New High German, with all its peculiarities.

scholarly journals Form and Content in Buber’s and Schweid’s Literary-Philosophical Readings of Genesis

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 398
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Martin Buber ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Religious Sensibility ◽  
Fear Of God ◽  
Human Side

The following essay is presented as part of a long-term project concerned with the theory and practice of modern Jewish thinkers as interpreters of the Bible. The recent Bible commentaries of Eliezer Schweid, who is one of the foremost Jewish scholars and theologians active in Israel today, are analyzed in comparison with parallel interpretations of Martin Buber, with special reference to the first chapters of Genesis. Their respective analyses of Biblical narrative reveal notable similarities in their treatment of the literary “body” of the text as the key to its theological significance. Nonetheless, Buber articulates religious experience largely “from the human side,” striving to mediate Biblical consciousness to the contemporary humanistic mindset, while Schweid positions himself more as the clarion of the “prophetic writers” for whom the fear of God, no less than the love of God, must inform an authentic religious sensibility. Schweid’s more theocentric perspective has great import for contemporary issues such as the universal covetousness engendered by the violation of our ecological covenant with the Earth.

The Scillitan Saints and the Pauline Epistles

1956 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-146
Author(s):  
Gerald Bonner
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Significant Feature ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The North ◽  
Historical Continuity ◽  
Pauline Epistles ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Biblical Scholar

It is, no doubt, appropriate that the document which ushers in the stormy history of the African Church should be a record of martyrdom. But there is another, scarcely less significant, feature in the Acts of the Scillitan Saints—a reference to Holy Scripture. Saturninus proconsul dixit: Quae sunt res in capsa vestra? Speratus dixit: Libri et epistolae Pauli, viri justi. Biblical scholar and palaeographer alike find the reference interesting. For the one, there is evidence of the spread of the text of the Bible in North Africa at the end of the second century. For the other, there is the problem of the nature of the book-form in which the scriptures circulated. Recently, however, another aspect has been mentioned, in this Journal, by Dr. W. H. C. Frend in an article on ‘The Gnostic-Manichaean tradition in North Africa’. In this article, Dr. Frend argues that there was in the North African Church, besides the rigorist tradition which produced the Donatists, and the more inclusive and more compromising element, which constituted the strength of the Catholics, a third element, whose outlook was enshrined first in the Gnostics against whom Tertullian fulminated and later in the Manichees, from whom African Catholicism was to draw her most illustrious convert. Dr. Frend argues persuasively for the existence of an historical continuity between the Gnostics and the Manichees, one of his points being that both heretical movements relied extensively on the writings of St. Paul to support their teaching. In this connexion, he writes: ‘Rejection of the Old Testament led in Africa to an almost exaggerated respect for the Epistles of St. Paul, and also for the various Gnostic Ada of the Apostles.

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