Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein, by Hilary Putnam.... more Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein, by Hilary Putnam. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2008. 121 pp. $19.90. The analytic philosopher Hilary Putnam, Cogan University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University, has in his retirement produced a slim and unpretentious volume of four studies devoted to modern Jewish thought. As described in an autobiographical introduction, Putnam developed a personal interest in his Jewishness late in life. He notes a course on Jewish thought that he developed in 1997, though he does not mention that he also published an article on negative theology and a study in the philosophy of religion in that same year ("On Negative Theology," Faith and Philosophy 14.4 [October 1997]: 407-422; "God and the Philosophers," in P. A. French, T. Uehling and H. Wettstein, eds., Philosophy of Religion [Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997], pp. 175-187). This is not to say that Putnam became a full-blown Jewish philosopher. Given the grand scale of his larger philosophical production, these pieces remain comparatively minor elements in an imposing corpus. Nor does Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life attempt to "reconcile" his faith with his analytic philosophy. Putnam describes his current religious standpoint as "somewhere between John Dewey in A Common Faith and Martin Buber" (p. 5). Drawing on the model of Pierre Hadot's Philosophy as a Way of Life, Putnam prefers a Jewish philosophy that is not reducible to a set of propositions, but rather provides models for a "way of life." Putnam reads Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, and Wittgenstein in support of this view, and his readings are provocative and insightful. Still, except perhaps in the case of Wittgenstein, who is not a "Jewish thinker" (Putnam calls him one-fourth of a Jewish philosopher), Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life will not be an extraordinary resource for those already familiar with these thinkers. Nonetheless, Putnam is a masterful teacher, and his elucidations of four difficult thinkers are valuable in themselves. Perhaps the most striking reading in the present climate of thought is his admittedly out of-step"What I and Thou is Really Saying" (pp. 55-67). He acknowledges this state of affairs:" Very often people are surprised that I value the thought of Martin Buber" (p. 58). He provides examples of misunderstandings of J and Thou in an effort to redress this situation. …
This chapter concerns genealogical implications of this counterintuitive choice for what was call... more This chapter concerns genealogical implications of this counterintuitive choice for what was called Religionsgeschichte or Religionswissenschaft . In this connection, proximity to Rudolf Otto, also teaching at Marburg, would seem more apposite than the two mentors invariably exploited in Hans Jonas studies, Martin Heidegger and Bultmann. The title of Suzanne Marchand's recent essay, "Philhellenism and the Furor Orientalis ," captures the overheated admixture of Hellenism and Orientalism in the "philological-humanist movement" as it was coming to a boil in the Weimar twenties. Conversation on gnosis, as it were, echoed through the most hallowed halls of Kultur . Of all the characters relevant to Jonas's 1928 moment, perhaps the oddest was Oskar Goldberg. Eventually, as a Jew, Jonas explicitly rejected the Alien God. "The Deus absconditus , the hidden god is a profoundly un-Jewish conception . . . a completely hidden God is not an acceptable concept by Jewish norms. Keywords: alien God; Bultmann; Furor Orientalis ; Hans Jonas; Jewish gnosis; Marburg; Martin Heidegger
Creation of the Sacred posits that ‘religion makes sense’. In so doing, it underestimates ‘the ne... more Creation of the Sacred posits that ‘religion makes sense’. In so doing, it underestimates ‘the negative’. Its emphasis on the scientific basis for tradition, here called ‘scientistic traditionalism’, underestimates the role of critique and the function of dissent in the dialectics of tradition-building. For this reason, it also cannot ‘make sense’ of monotheism, which, in its many traditions, positions itself in opposition to mere biological imperatives.
Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, Dec 1, 1998
... (Ainsi naquit l'id6e du livre qui devait 6tre le chef-d'œuvere mystique d... more ... (Ainsi naquit l'id6e du livre qui devait 6tre le chef-d'œuvere mystique de Balzac, l'id6e de Seraphitus-Seraphita, un même ange, mais un 6tre double, mas-culin et f6minin, prenant naissance dans l'union de 1'amant et 1'aimee; lib6rant dans chacun des deux &dquo;la ...
SHAHRASTANI AND HIS Book of Religions and Sects Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Sha... more SHAHRASTANI AND HIS Book of Religions and Sects Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani (died A.H. 528/c.E. 1153) was arguably the greatest of all premodern historians of religions.' His contribution to the study of religion has been recognized and properly lauded for over a century. Hamilton A. R. Gibb epitomized the tone of this praise when he referred to Shahrastani's Kitab al-Milal wa al-Nihal, The Book of Religions and Sects (hereafter called Milal), as a book "than which there were few works in Arabic literature that reflect more credit on medieval Muhammadan [sic] scholarship."2 E. J. Sharpe, in his Comparative
Preface and Acknowledgments ix Author's Note xi Introduction 3 PART 1: Religion after Religio... more Preface and Acknowledgments ix Author's Note xi Introduction 3 PART 1: Religion after Religion 21 Chapter 1. Eranos and the "History of Religions" 23 Chapter 2. Toward the Origins of History of Religions: Christian Kabbalah as Inspiration and as Initiation 37 Chapter 3. Tautegorical Sublime: Gershom Scholem and Henry Corbin in Conversation 52 Chapter 4. Coincidentia Oppositorum: An Essay 67 PART II: Poetics 83 Chapter 5. On Symbols and Symbolizing 85 Chapter 6. Aesthetic Solutions 100 Chapter 7. A Rustling in the Woods: The Turn to Myth in Weimar Jewish Thought 112 PART III: Politics 125 Chapter 8. Collective Renovatio 127 Chapter 9. The Idea of Incognito: Authority and Its Occultation According to Henry Corbin 145 PART IV.- History 157 Chapter 10. Mystic Historicities 159 Chapter 11. The Chiliastic Practice of Islamic Studies According to Henry Corbin 172 Chapter 12. Psychoanalysis in Reverse 183 PART V: Ethics 201 Chapter 13. Uses of the Androgyne in the History of Religions 203 Chapter 14. Defeating Evil from Within: Comparative Perspectives on "Redemption through Sin" 215 Chapter 15. On the Suspension of the Ethical 225 Conclusion 237 Abbreviations Used in the Notes 251 Notes 255 Index 355
Page 1. Page 2. RELIGION AFTER RELIGION Page 3. This page intentionally left blank Page 4. RELIGI... more Page 1. Page 2. RELIGION AFTER RELIGION Page 3. This page intentionally left blank Page 4. RELIGION AFTER RELIGION GERSHOM SCHOLEM, MIRCEA ELIADE, AND HENRY CORBIN AT ERANOS Steven M. Wasserstrom ...
Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein, by Hilary Putnam.... more Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein, by Hilary Putnam. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2008. 121 pp. $19.90. The analytic philosopher Hilary Putnam, Cogan University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University, has in his retirement produced a slim and unpretentious volume of four studies devoted to modern Jewish thought. As described in an autobiographical introduction, Putnam developed a personal interest in his Jewishness late in life. He notes a course on Jewish thought that he developed in 1997, though he does not mention that he also published an article on negative theology and a study in the philosophy of religion in that same year ("On Negative Theology," Faith and Philosophy 14.4 [October 1997]: 407-422; "God and the Philosophers," in P. A. French, T. Uehling and H. Wettstein, eds., Philosophy of Religion [Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997], pp. 175-187). This is not to say that Putnam became a full-blown Jewish philosopher. Given the grand scale of his larger philosophical production, these pieces remain comparatively minor elements in an imposing corpus. Nor does Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life attempt to "reconcile" his faith with his analytic philosophy. Putnam describes his current religious standpoint as "somewhere between John Dewey in A Common Faith and Martin Buber" (p. 5). Drawing on the model of Pierre Hadot's Philosophy as a Way of Life, Putnam prefers a Jewish philosophy that is not reducible to a set of propositions, but rather provides models for a "way of life." Putnam reads Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, and Wittgenstein in support of this view, and his readings are provocative and insightful. Still, except perhaps in the case of Wittgenstein, who is not a "Jewish thinker" (Putnam calls him one-fourth of a Jewish philosopher), Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life will not be an extraordinary resource for those already familiar with these thinkers. Nonetheless, Putnam is a masterful teacher, and his elucidations of four difficult thinkers are valuable in themselves. Perhaps the most striking reading in the present climate of thought is his admittedly out of-step"What I and Thou is Really Saying" (pp. 55-67). He acknowledges this state of affairs:" Very often people are surprised that I value the thought of Martin Buber" (p. 58). He provides examples of misunderstandings of J and Thou in an effort to redress this situation. …
This chapter concerns genealogical implications of this counterintuitive choice for what was call... more This chapter concerns genealogical implications of this counterintuitive choice for what was called Religionsgeschichte or Religionswissenschaft . In this connection, proximity to Rudolf Otto, also teaching at Marburg, would seem more apposite than the two mentors invariably exploited in Hans Jonas studies, Martin Heidegger and Bultmann. The title of Suzanne Marchand's recent essay, "Philhellenism and the Furor Orientalis ," captures the overheated admixture of Hellenism and Orientalism in the "philological-humanist movement" as it was coming to a boil in the Weimar twenties. Conversation on gnosis, as it were, echoed through the most hallowed halls of Kultur . Of all the characters relevant to Jonas's 1928 moment, perhaps the oddest was Oskar Goldberg. Eventually, as a Jew, Jonas explicitly rejected the Alien God. "The Deus absconditus , the hidden god is a profoundly un-Jewish conception . . . a completely hidden God is not an acceptable concept by Jewish norms. Keywords: alien God; Bultmann; Furor Orientalis ; Hans Jonas; Jewish gnosis; Marburg; Martin Heidegger
Creation of the Sacred posits that ‘religion makes sense’. In so doing, it underestimates ‘the ne... more Creation of the Sacred posits that ‘religion makes sense’. In so doing, it underestimates ‘the negative’. Its emphasis on the scientific basis for tradition, here called ‘scientistic traditionalism’, underestimates the role of critique and the function of dissent in the dialectics of tradition-building. For this reason, it also cannot ‘make sense’ of monotheism, which, in its many traditions, positions itself in opposition to mere biological imperatives.
Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, Dec 1, 1998
... (Ainsi naquit l'id6e du livre qui devait 6tre le chef-d'œuvere mystique d... more ... (Ainsi naquit l'id6e du livre qui devait 6tre le chef-d'œuvere mystique de Balzac, l'id6e de Seraphitus-Seraphita, un même ange, mais un 6tre double, mas-culin et f6minin, prenant naissance dans l'union de 1'amant et 1'aimee; lib6rant dans chacun des deux &dquo;la ...
SHAHRASTANI AND HIS Book of Religions and Sects Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Sha... more SHAHRASTANI AND HIS Book of Religions and Sects Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani (died A.H. 528/c.E. 1153) was arguably the greatest of all premodern historians of religions.' His contribution to the study of religion has been recognized and properly lauded for over a century. Hamilton A. R. Gibb epitomized the tone of this praise when he referred to Shahrastani's Kitab al-Milal wa al-Nihal, The Book of Religions and Sects (hereafter called Milal), as a book "than which there were few works in Arabic literature that reflect more credit on medieval Muhammadan [sic] scholarship."2 E. J. Sharpe, in his Comparative
Preface and Acknowledgments ix Author's Note xi Introduction 3 PART 1: Religion after Religio... more Preface and Acknowledgments ix Author's Note xi Introduction 3 PART 1: Religion after Religion 21 Chapter 1. Eranos and the "History of Religions" 23 Chapter 2. Toward the Origins of History of Religions: Christian Kabbalah as Inspiration and as Initiation 37 Chapter 3. Tautegorical Sublime: Gershom Scholem and Henry Corbin in Conversation 52 Chapter 4. Coincidentia Oppositorum: An Essay 67 PART II: Poetics 83 Chapter 5. On Symbols and Symbolizing 85 Chapter 6. Aesthetic Solutions 100 Chapter 7. A Rustling in the Woods: The Turn to Myth in Weimar Jewish Thought 112 PART III: Politics 125 Chapter 8. Collective Renovatio 127 Chapter 9. The Idea of Incognito: Authority and Its Occultation According to Henry Corbin 145 PART IV.- History 157 Chapter 10. Mystic Historicities 159 Chapter 11. The Chiliastic Practice of Islamic Studies According to Henry Corbin 172 Chapter 12. Psychoanalysis in Reverse 183 PART V: Ethics 201 Chapter 13. Uses of the Androgyne in the History of Religions 203 Chapter 14. Defeating Evil from Within: Comparative Perspectives on "Redemption through Sin" 215 Chapter 15. On the Suspension of the Ethical 225 Conclusion 237 Abbreviations Used in the Notes 251 Notes 255 Index 355
Page 1. Page 2. RELIGION AFTER RELIGION Page 3. This page intentionally left blank Page 4. RELIGI... more Page 1. Page 2. RELIGION AFTER RELIGION Page 3. This page intentionally left blank Page 4. RELIGION AFTER RELIGION GERSHOM SCHOLEM, MIRCEA ELIADE, AND HENRY CORBIN AT ERANOS Steven M. Wasserstrom ...
On March 15, an armed white nationalist went into mosques in Aoteoroa New Zealand as congregation... more On March 15, an armed white nationalist went into mosques in Aoteoroa New Zealand as congregational prayers began, and he killed as many people as he could. In his manifesto, the gunman explained that he killed these people because they looked to him like “invaders.” To be clear, on the evidence of his extensive “manifesto,” this murderer did not kill because he hated Islam. His concerns, as he described them at nauseating length, were with borders, territory, and the migration of peoples. He killed because he understood the modern world with a relentless Eurocentrism: white people should be at the center no matter where one stands on the globe. Let this soak in.
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