The Orientalist Foundations of Modern Jewish Thought

• In Event: Modern Jewish Thought/Philosophy and the Politics of Religious Studies

Abstract

At the turn of the 20th century, the Orient—as an object of fantasy in the European imaginary—complicated and upset the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. By focusing on Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany’s fascination with the Orient, which often was coupled with a desire to dejudaize the New Testament, this paper highlights the social and political motivations underlying canonical works of modern Jewish thought. That is, the desire to justify Judaism before its cultured despisers correlates with varied attempts of Jewish thinkers to render Judaism unique, irreplaceable, and at the core of Occidental identity.

This paper situates arguments made by Hermann Cohen (EINLEITUNG MIT KRITISCHEN NACHTRAG ZUR F.A. LANGES ,GESCHICHTE DES MATERIALISMUS' published in 1914 and DER BEGRIFFE DER RELIGION IM SYSTEM DER PHILOSOPHIE published in 1915) and Abraham Joshua Heschel (DIE PROPHETIE published in 1936) against the backdrop of 19th and early 20th century RELIGIONSWISSENSCHAFT in order to highlight the manner in which Jewish thinkers have constructed Judaism over against non-Western traditions. This paper argues that the canon of modern Jewish thought should be grasped as part of a larger discourse that defines the values and identity of the Occident, a discourse that is inextricable from the delineation and demarcation of the Occident’s Others. Grasping the genealogical foundations of modern Jewish thought and paying close attention to its Orientalist traits allows contemporary Jewish thinkers to break with strategies of self-definition that have outlived the circumstances in which they emerged.

author

• Robert A. Erlewine, Illinois Wesleyan University