Language:
English
Year of publication:
1989
Titel der Quelle:
Modern Judaism
Angaben zur Quelle:
9,2 (1989) 151-164
Keywords:
Jews History 1500-
Abstract:
A paper delivered at a conference on "Jews, Christians, and Modernity, " organized by the American Jewish Committee and the Harvard Divinity School in November 1988. Discusses, mainly, views on modernity in Enlightenment thought. Most Christian theologians and intellectuals were unwilling to grant that Judaism could be transformed into a rational faith - i.e. modernity required of the Jews some form of conversion. Discusses the philosophy of Moses Mendelssohn, his influence on Samson Raphael Hirsch, the thought of Kant and Lessing (who viewed Judaism as an anachronism), and 19th century "historical Judaism, " whose spokesmen - Zacharias Frankel and Abraham Geiger - propounded the view that Judaism was a dynamic rather than a static religion, capable of responding to modernity. However, German thinkers, into the 20th century, persisted in regarding Judaism as inferior to Christianity. Jewish thinkers responded that Judaism was more in harmony with the ideals of the modern age than Christianity, an assertion which remained unchallenged until after World War II; it was Judaism's defense against the new form of Christian supersessionism.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
