Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
Naharaim
Angaben zur Quelle:
14,2 (2020) 173-208
Keywords:
Soloveitchik, Joseph Dov,
;
Rosenzweig, Franz,
;
Jewish philosophy 20th century
;
Redemption Judaism
Abstract:
Redemption in Judaism is typically thought of as an historical andeschatological category: God has redeemed Israel in the past and will do so againin the future. Although this dipolar understanding of redemption has beendominant in Judaism, forms of actualized redemption have also found expressionin which Jews, either individually or communally, secure a positive redemptivestatus in the present. This article focuses on the peculiar fact that Franz Rose-nzweig and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik both include an actualized componentwithin their theories of redemption. After brief consideration of Kierkegaard as apotential source for their accounts of actualized redemption, I explore how actu-alized redemption fits into Rosenzweig’s and Soloveitchik’s larger thought andconsider their philosophical and theological motivations for conceiving ofredemption as achievable. In the concluding section of the paper, I critiqueRosenzweig’s and Solovetchik’s accounts of actualized redemption and suggestthat Abraham Joshua Heschel’s and Eliezer Berkovits’alternative theological an-thropologies that emphasize the cultivation of holiness circumvent some of theproblems I associate with actualized redemption.
DOI:
10.1515/naha-2019-0016
URL:
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