Messianism

Abstract: The Orthodox Jewish tradition affirms that Jewish exile will end with the coming of the Messiah. How, then, does Orthodoxy respond to the political realization of a Jewish homeland that is the state of Israel? In this study, the author probes Orthodoxy's divergent positions on Zionism, which range from radical condemnation to virtual beatification. Ravitzky traces the roots of Haredi ideology, which opposes the Zionist enterprise, and shows how Haredim living in Israel have come to terms with a state to them unholy and therefore doomed. Ravitzky also examines radical religious movements, including the Gush Emunim, to whom the state of Israel is a divine agent. He concludes with a discussion of the recent transformation of Habad Hassidism from conservatism to radical messianism. This work should be useful to those concerned with the complex confrontation between Jewish fundamentalism and Israeli political sovereignty, especially in light of the tragic death of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Abstract: Few twentieth-century thinkers have proven as influential as Walter Benjamin, the German-Jewish philosopher and cultural and literary critic. Richard Wolin's book remains among the clearest and most insightful introductions to Benjamin's writings, offering a philosophically rich exposition of his complex relationship to Adorno, Brecht, Jewish Messianism, and Western Marxism. Wolin provides nuanced interpretations of Benjamin's widely studied writings on Baudelaire, historiography, and art in the age of mechanical reproduction. In a new Introduction written especially for this edition, Wolin discusses the unfinished Arcades Project, as well as recent tendencies in the reception of Benjamin's work and the relevance of his ideas to contemporary debates about modernity and postmodernity.

Abstract: 1. Introduction: modern Jewish philosophy, modern philosophy, and modern Judaism Michael L. Morgan and Peter Eli Gordon 2. Baruch Spinoza and the naturalization of Judaism Steven Nadler 3. The liberalism of Moses Mendelssohn Allan Arkush 4. Jewish philosophy after Kant: the legacy of Salomon Maimon Paul W. Franks 5. Hermann Cohen: Judaism and critical idealism Andrea Poma 6. Self, other, text, God: the dialogical thought of Martin Buber Tamara Wright 7. Franz Rosenzweig and the philosophy of Jewish existence Peter Eli Gordon 8. Leo Strauss and modern Jewish thought Steven B. Smith 9. Messianism and modern Jewish philosophy Pierre Bouretz 10. Ethics, authority, and autonomy Kenneth Seeskin 11. Joseph Soloveitchik and Halakhic man Lawrence Kaplan 12. Emmanuel Levinas: Judaism and the primacy of the ethical Richard A. Cohen 13. Emil Fackenheim, the Holocaust, and philosophy Michael L. Morgan 14. Evil, suffering, and the Holocaust Berel Lang 15. Revelation, language, and commentary: from Buber to Derrida Leora Batnitzky 16. Feminism and modern Jewish philosophy Tamar Rudavsky.

Abstract: Preface 1. Introduction: Messiah in Judaism: rethinking the question William Scott Green 2. Wisdom makes a difference: alternatives to 'Messianic' configurations Burton L. Mack 3. Salvation without and with a Messiah: developing beliefs in writings ascribed to enoch George W. E. Nickelsburg 4. How the authors of 1 and 2 Maccabees treated to 'Messianic' promises Jonathan A. Goldstein 5. Messianism in the Maccabean period John J. Collins 6. Waiting for the Messiah: the spiritual universe of the Qumran convenanters Shemaryahu Talmon 7. Philo and Messiah Richard D. Hecht 8. Messiah and Gospel George Macrae, S. J. 9. Christology in Mark's Gospel Howard Clark Kee 10. The question of the Messiah in 4 Ezra Michael E. Stone 11. From Jewish Messianology to Christian christology: some caveats and perspectives J. H. Charlesworth 12. Mishnah and Messiah Jacob Neusner General index Index to biblical and hermeneutical texts.