Background
Franz Rosenzweig was born on December 25, 1886 in Kassel, German Empire to an acculturated merchant in a middle-class, minimally observant, Jewish family.
(“Franz Rosenzweig’s The Start of Redemption is one of the...)
“Franz Rosenzweig’s The Start of Redemption is one of the few lasting books of our century, a work whose originality transcends the disciplinary limits of philosophy and religion and which must be read by anyone whose concern with the meaning of daily life is urgent and abiding.” —Maurice Natanson, Yale University The Star of Redemption is widely recognized as a key document of modern existential thought and a significant contribution to Jewish theology in the twentieth century. An affirmation of what Rosenzweig called “the new thinking,” the work ensconces common sense in the place of abstract, conceptual philosophizing and posits the validity of the concrete, individual human being over that of “humanity” in general. Fusing philosophy and theology, it assigns both Judaism and Christianity distinct but equally important roles in the spiritual structure of the world, and finds in both biblical religions approaches toward a comprehension of reality. “Franz Rosenzweig’s The Start of Redemption is one of the few lasting books of our century, a work whose originality transcends the disciplinary limits of philosophy and religion and which must be read by anyone whose concern with the meaning of daily life is urgent and abiding.” —Maurice Natanson, Yale University The Star of Redemption is widely recognized as a key document of modern existential thought and a significant contribution to Jewish theology in the twentieth century. An affirmation of what Rosenzweig called “the new thinking,” the work ensconces common sense in the place of abstract, conceptual philosophizing and posits the validity of the concrete, individual human being over that of “humanity” in general. Fusing philosophy and theology, it assigns both Judaism and Christianity distinct but equally important roles in the spiritual structure of the world, and finds in both biblical religions approaches toward a comprehension of reality.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0268017182/?tag=2022091-20
(This volume brings together Rosenzweig's central essays o...)
This volume brings together Rosenzweig's central essays on theology and philosophy, including two works available for the first time in English: the conclusion to Rosenzweig's book Hegel and the State, and Rosenzweig's famous letter to Rudolph Ehrenberg known as the Urzelle of the Star of Redemption, an essential work for understanding Rosenzweig, Weimar theology and philosophy, and German idealism and the existential reaction of the period. Additional selections are presented in new or revised translations. Introduction and notes by Franks and Morgan set Rosenzweig’s works in context and illuminate his role as one of the key thinkers of the period. This volume brings together Rosenzweig's central essays on theology and philosophy, including two works available for the first time in English: the conclusion to Rosenzweig's book Hegel and the State, and Rosenzweig's famous letter to Rudolph Ehrenberg known as the Urzelle of the Star of Redemption, an essential work for understanding Rosenzweig, Weimar theology and philosophy, and German idealism and the existential reaction of the period. Additional selections are presented in new or revised translations. Introduction and notes by Franks and Morgan set Rosenzweig’s works in context and illuminate his role as one of the key thinkers of the period.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0872204723/?tag=2022091-20
(“Franz Rosenzweig’s The Start of Redemption is one of the...)
“Franz Rosenzweig’s The Start of Redemption is one of the few lasting books of our century, a work whose originality transcends the disciplinary limits of philosophy and religion and which must be read by anyone whose concern with the meaning of daily life is urgent and abiding.” —Maurice Natanson, Yale University The Star of Redemption is widely recognized as a key document of modern existential thought and a significant contribution to Jewish theology in the twentieth century. An affirmation of what Rosenzweig called “the new thinking,” the work ensconces common sense in the place of abstract, conceptual philosophizing and posits the validity of the concrete, individual human being over that of “humanity” in general. Fusing philosophy and theology, it assigns both Judaism and Christianity distinct but equally important roles in the spiritual structure of the world, and finds in both biblical religions approaches toward a comprehension of reality. “Franz Rosenzweig’s The Start of Redemption is one of the few lasting books of our century, a work whose originality transcends the disciplinary limits of philosophy and religion and which must be read by anyone whose concern with the meaning of daily life is urgent and abiding.” —Maurice Natanson, Yale University The Star of Redemption is widely recognized as a key document of modern existential thought and a significant contribution to Jewish theology in the twentieth century. An affirmation of what Rosenzweig called “the new thinking,” the work ensconces common sense in the place of abstract, conceptual philosophizing and posits the validity of the concrete, individual human being over that of “humanity” in general. Fusing philosophy and theology, it assigns both Judaism and Christianity distinct but equally important roles in the spiritual structure of the world, and finds in both biblical religions approaches toward a comprehension of reality.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0268017182/?tag=2022091-20
(Franz Rosenzweig, one of the century's great Jewish think...)
Franz Rosenzweig, one of the century's great Jewish thinkers, wrote his gem of a book in 1921 as a more accessible precis of his famous Star of Redemption. An elegant introduction to Rosenzweig's "new thinking," Understanding the Sick and the Healthy was written for a lay audience and takes the form of an ironic narrative about convalescence. With superb simplicity and beauty, it puts forth an important critique of the nineteenth-century German Idealist philosophical tradition and expresses a powerful vision of Jewish religion. Harvard's Hilary Putnam provides a new introduction to this classic work for a contemporary audience. "Today, more than three-quarters of a century after it was written, the critique of philosophy in this book is what makes it of such great interest. Critique of philosophy has been a central theme of twentieth-century philosophy, and many philosophers have attacked some of the targets that Rosenzweig attacked in his little book. Yet this early attack by a profound religious thinker is far more powerful and far more interesting than most." --From the new introduction by Hilary Putnam
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674921194/?tag=2022091-20
educator philosopher translator
Franz Rosenzweig was born on December 25, 1886 in Kassel, German Empire to an acculturated merchant in a middle-class, minimally observant, Jewish family.
Rosenzweig, under the influence of his cousins and his close friend Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, considered converting to Christianity. Determined to embrace the faith as the early Christians did, he resolved to live as an observant Jew first, before becoming Christian. After attending Yom Kippur services at a small Orthodox synagogue in Berlin, he underwent a mystical experience. As a result, he became a baal teshuva. Although he never recorded what transpired, he never again entertained converting to Christianity. In 1913, he turned to Jewish philosophy. His letters to his friend Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, whom he had nearly followed into Christianity, have been published as Judaism Despite Christianity. Rosenzweig was a student of Hermann Cohen, and the two became close. While writing a doctoral dissertation on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel and the State, Rosenzweig turned against idealism and sought a philosophy that did not begin with an abstract notion of the human.
Rosenzweig's major work is The Star of Redemption (first published in 1921). It is a description of the relationships between God, humanity, and the world, as they are connected by creation, revelation and redemption. If one makes a diagram with God at the top, and the World and the Self below, the inter-relationships generate a Star of David map. He is critical of any attempt to replace actual human existence with an ideal. In Rosenzweig's scheme, revelation arises not in metaphysics but in the here and now. We are called to love God, and to do so is to return to the world, and that is redemption.
Rosenzweig, while critical of Jewish scholar Martin Buber's early work, became close friends with him upon their meeting. Buber was a Zionist, but Rosenzweig felt that a return to Israel would embroil the Jews into a worldly history they should eschew. Rosenzweig criticized Buber’s dialogical philosophy, because it is based not only on the I-Thou relation, but also on I-It, a notion that Rosenzweig rejected. He thought the counterpart to I-Thou should be He-It, namely “as He said and it became”: building the "it" around the human "I" — the human mind — is an idealistic mistake. Rosenzweig and Buber worked together on a translation of the Torah from Hebrew to German. The translation, while contested, has led to several other translations (in other languages) using the same methodology and principles. Their publications concerning the nature and philosophy of translation are still widely read.
Rosenzweig, unimpressed with the impersonal learning of the academy, founded the House of Jewish Learning in Frankfurt in 1920, which sought to engage in dialogue with human beings rather than merely accumulate knowledge. The Lehrhaus, as it was known in Germany, produced many prominent Jewish intellectuals. In October 1922, Rudolf Hallo took over the leadership of the Lehrhaus. It stayed open until 1930 and was reopened by Martin Buber in 1933.
Rosenzweig's final attempt to communicate his thought, via the laborious typewriter-alphabet method, consisted in the partial sentence: "And now it comes, the point of all points, which the Lord has truly revealed to me in my sleep, the point of all points for which there—". The writing was interrupted by his doctor, with whom he had a short discussion using the same method. When the doctor left, Rosenzweig did not wish to continue with the writing, and he died on the night of December 10, 1929, in Frankfurt, the sentence left unfinished.
Rosenzweig was buried on December 12, 1929. There was no eulogy; Buber read Psalm 73.
(This volume brings together Rosenzweig's central essays o...)
(This volume brings together Rosenzweig's central essays o...)
(“Franz Rosenzweig’s The Start of Redemption is one of the...)
(“Franz Rosenzweig’s The Start of Redemption is one of the...)
(Franz Rosenzweig, one of the century's great Jewish think...)
(A reprint of the Schocken Books edition of 1961. A reprin...)
Many of his relatives and friends, including his cousin Eugen Roscnstock-Huessy, had converted to Christianity and Rosenzweig seriously contemplated taking the same step. Judaism seemed to him “an empty purse and when he discovered faith, it appeared likely that he would follow his cousin. In 1913 he decided to became a Christian, but as a Jew, not a pagan. For that he needed to become a Jew, however briefly. This meant a return to the synagogue and to achieve this he went to a small Orthodox synagogue in Berlin for High Holy Day services. The experience proved a reyelation and changed his direction and his life. He reversed his decision and not only remained a Jew but devoted himself to the study of Judaism, initially with his friend, the philosopher, Hermann Cohen. He reached the conclusion that Judaism and Christianity are both authentic manifestations of the one religious truth, an unprecendented view in Jewish theology. However, a Jew does not need to seek God; he is with God from his birth. God needs no mediation and Judaism is not a religion but a living faith.
Man helps to bring the universe to redemption by converting his love for God into love for his fellowman.
Rosenzwcig pioneered the construction of a Jewish-Christian relation without polemic, which became the basis for the postwar dialogue. He expounded the doctine of the two covenants, which in a mysterious way are united before God. The first covenant is with the people of Israel and establishes their existence as God’s people. Christianity is the Judaism of the Gentiles through which the nations of the world establish their relationship to God. The vocation of Christianity is to bring the world to God. Judaism and Christianity can recognize the other’s integrity but not seek to change the other. Christianity is on its way to its goal, but Judaism has already arrived. Eventually, he felt, it would be Christianity that would change.
Physical Characteristics: Rosenzweig suffered from the muscular degenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease). Towards the end of his life, he had to write with the help of his wife, Edith, who would recite letters of the alphabet until he indicated for her to stop, continuing until she could guess the word or phrase he intended (or, at other times, Rosenzweig would point to the letter on the plate of his typewriter). They also developed a communication system based on him blinking his eyes.
Philosophy of religion
Buber, Cohen, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Rosenstock-Huessy, Glatzer, Levinas, Santner