Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
Harvard Theological Review
Angaben zur Quelle:
113,1 (2020) 89-110
Keywords:
Hirsch, Samson Raphael,
;
Hegel, Georg Ludwig Friedrich,
;
Bible. Philosophy
;
Monotheism
;
Ethics Philosophy
;
Judaism Philosophy 19th century
Abstract:
This 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.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink
