Another Modernity: Elia Benamozegh’s Jewish Universalism

Clémence Boulouque

Published by Stanford University Press 2020

Another Modernity

Elia Benamozegh’s Jewish Universalism

Clémence Boulouque

In the series Stanford Studies in Jewish History and C

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503613119

Overview
Contents

About this book

Another Modernity is a rich study of the life and thought of Elia Benamozegh, a nineteenth-century rabbi and philosopher whose work profoundly influenced Christian-Jewish dialogue in twentieth-century Europe. Benamozegh, a Livornese rabbi of Moroccan descent, was a prolific writer and transnational thinker who corresponded widely with religious and intellectual figures in France, the Maghreb, and the Middle East. This idiosyncratic figure, who argued for the universalism of Judaism and for interreligious engagement, came to influence a spectrum of religious thinkers so varied that it includes proponents of the ecumenical Second Vatican Council, American evangelists, and right-wing Zionists in Israel.

What Benamozegh proposed was unprecedented: that the Jewish tradition presented a solution to the religious crisis of modernity. According to Benamozegh, the defining features of Judaism were universalism, a capacity to foster interreligious engagement, and the political power and mythical allure of its theosophical tradition, Kabbalah—all of which made the Jewish tradition uniquely equipped to assuage the post-Enlightenment tensions between religion and reason. In this book, Clémence Boulouque presents a wide-ranging and nuanced investigation of Benamozegh's published and unpublished work and his continuing legacy, considering his impact on Christian-Jewish dialogue as well as on far-right Christians and right-wing religious Zionists.

Author / Editor information

Clémence Boulouque is the Carl and Bernice Witten Assistant Professor in Jewish and Israel studies at Columbia University.

Reviews

"Boulouque['s] work gives a detailed description of Benamozegh['s] character and analyzes various aspects of his thought, from political to kabbalistic, with a very rich bibliography... The book is written smoothly, and succeeds to give a complete vision of Benamozegh's thought, analyzing different perspectives, but above all gives a vast overview of what modernity is and how Benamozegh dealt with it, in a different way from classical models."—Andrea Yaakov Lattes, Sephardic Horizons

"Clémence Boulouque brilliantly succeeds in elucidating previously neglected aspects of the work of a rabbi and philosopher who lived at the crossroads of irreconcilable worlds, yet provided a broad and consistent version of Judaism that was at once traditional and modern. This intelligent, well-informed, well-written book is an important step towards comprehending the multi-faceted thought of Elia Benamozegh."—Alessandro Guetta, INALCO, Paris

"Another Modernity offers a brilliant portrait of Elia Benamozegh, a fascinating and largely hidden gem of modern Jewish thought. Clémence Boulouque deftly captures the Italian rabbi's singular approach to mysticism, universalism, and the role of Judaism in the modern world; she is the ideal scholar to bring Benamozegh out of an undeserved obscurity."—Jessica Maya Marglin, University of Southern California

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART 1. BENAMOZEGH’S TEXTS AND CONTEXTS Morocco, the Risorgimento, and the Disputed Manuscript
1. The Moroccan World of a Livornese Jew Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2. An Italian Jewish Patriot in the Risorgimento Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
3. The Banned Author and the Oriental Publisher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
4. Expanding His Readership: Benamozegh’s Turn to French Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
5. The Afterlives of a Manuscript Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
PART II. UNIVERSALISM AS AN INDEX OF JEWISH MODERNITY
6. Situating Benamozegh in the Debate on Jewish Universalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
7. Normativity and Inclusivity in Modernity: The Role and Limits of the Noahide Laws Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
8. Cosmopolitanism and Universalism: The Political Value of Judaism in an Age of Nations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
9. Universalism in Particularism: Benamozegh’s Legacies, between Levinas and Religious Zionism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
Part III. Beyond Binaries: Kabbalah as a Tool for Modernity
10. Kabbalah: Reason and the Power of Myth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
11. Beyond Dualism: Kabbalah and the Coincidence of Opposites Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
12. Kabbalah as Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Part IV. Past Enmity: Modes of Interreligious Engagement and Jewish Self-Affirmation
13. Religious Enmity and Tolerance Reconsidered Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
14. “The Iron Crucible” and Loci of Religious Contact Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
15. Self-Assertion and a Jewish Theology of Religions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
16. Modes of Interreligious Engagement: From Theory to Social Practices Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 328
Keywords: modernity; Kabbalah; interreligious dialogue; universalism; ethnocentrism; Italian Judaism; Moroccan Judaism; Noahide Laws.; Orientalism; religious Zionism

eBook

Published: September 1, 2020
ISBN: 9781503613119