Rediscovering Political Theology: Jacob Taubes, Carl Schmitt, and the Writing of Israel's Constitution

• In Event: Catastrophe, Theory, History: Thinking German-Jewish after the Holocaust

Abstract

The tale Jacob Taubes told and retold of the beginnings of his relationship with Carl Schmitt and encounter with political theology has understandably caught the attention of scholars in many fields. How could Taubes, rabbi and scholar of Judaism, be an admiring student of the work of the Nazi Party’s most renowned political theorist? “Rediscovering Political Theology” returns to the setting of Jerusalem, 1949 in order to trace the fateful consequences of this liaison and the origins of Jewish political theology in the post-war period, where to begin anew meant to begin armed with the legacy of what was. This shocking genealogy is reflected in a re-contextualization of Israel’s stillborn constitution.

Author

• Eugene R. Sheppard, Brandeis University