Max Weber. Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen. Das antike Judentum (Studienausgabe),ed. Eckart Otto, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008 (original) (raw)

A Study on Max Weber's Ancient Judaism: Theoretical Framework and Methodology

Max Weber Studies, 2008

Max Weber's Ancient Judaism is often seen as difficult or simply outdated. However, it contains stimulating perspectives. In order to clarify the theoretical framework, I suggest a comparative reading with The City in Economy and Society. The theoretical framework of Ancient Judaism can be viewed as an ideal type, 'Israel and Greece'. The ideal type is related with the religious and the political accordingly. Moreover, these are thought of as ambivalent. Observing the concept 'the ethic of ultimate ends and the ethic of responsibility', we can see the sharpened tension between the religious and the political. Certainly, this view would be effected by the severe situation in Germany during and right after the First World War. In spite of that, the work still has some significance in the history of philosophy, especially in Weber's integration of methodologies to interpret complicated social phenomena.

Review of Michael E. Stone, Ancient Judaism: New Visions and Views (Eerdmans, 2011)

This book is a collection of seven essays dealing with a variety of central topics in the study of Second Temple Judaism. In the preface, the author expresses his principal compositional motivation: "to engage some assumptions and axiomatic beliefs that have helped determine the directions of scholarship in the field during the last half-century." Stone, a virtuoso who has produced significant research in the field for nearly fifty years, could not be better suited for the task. The attractive volume includes a substantial bibliography and indexes of subjects and names and ancient sources.