Review of Michah Gottlieb, "Faith and Freedom: Moses Mendelssohn's Theologico-Political Thought" (original) (raw)

Thinking Beyond Borders: Moses Mendelssohn and the Beginning of German-Jewish Philosophy

In this paper I would like to shed light on the beginning of German-Je-wish philosophy by focusing on the figure of Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786). Why was Mendelssohn's role so crucial in Germany at the time? What does it mean to be a Jew and at the same time a German philosopher? In order to answer to these questions, I will shed light on the »bifurcated soul« of the Ger-man-Jewish thinker by dealing with two controversial bonds: the first concerns the relationship between philosophy and Judaism, and the second one regards the marriage between German culture and Jewish philosophy.

"Foreword" to Michah Gottlieb, Moses Mendelssohn: Writings on Judaism, Christianity, and the Bible

2011

German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) is best known in the English-speaking world for his Jerusalem (1783), the first attempt to present Judaism as a religion compatible with the ideas of the Enlightenment. While incorporating much of Jerusalem, Michah Gottlieb’s volume seeks to expand knowledge of Mendelssohn’s thought by presenting translations of many of his other seminal writings from the German or Hebrew originals. These writings include essays, commentaries, unpublished reflections, and personal letters.

Micah Gottlieb, Ed. Moses Mendelssohn: Writings on Judaism, Christianity, and the Bible

Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, 2012

Bible offers the English-reading public new insights into the thought of the German-Jewish Enlightenment thinker Moses Mendelssohn. Even though Mendelssohn was an extraordinarily prolific writer, much of his work is not translated from the original German; many English language scholars therefore rely on secondary accounts of his work. Gottlieb's volume provides English translations of some of Mendelssohn's Hebrew and German writings (by Curtis Bowman, Elias Sacks, and Allen Arkush). Gottlieb's goal in doing this is, as he puts it, to provide the English reader "with a more comprehensive picture of Mendelssohn's attempt to balance Judaism and the Enlightenment than has been available until now" (p. xxi). Indeed, his volume addresses the long-lamented scholarly neglect of Mendelssohn's contributions to the European Enlightenment, and specifically to the Enlightenment in Jewish society (the Haskala), as well as of his myriad commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. The time, it seems, was ripe to look beyond Mendelssohn as merely the first "modern Jew" (as he is often called). This is no minor or unimportant task.

How to Believe in Nothing: Moses Mendelssohn's Subjectivity and the Empty Core of Tradition

2017

How to Believe in Nothing: Moses Mendelssohn's Subjectivity and the Empty Core of Tradition Yuval Kremnitzer The purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, it aims to illuminate key aspects of the work of Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), the 'Father of Jewish Enlightenment,' in particular, his well-known, and universally rejected, theory of Judaism. Secondly, it brings Mendelssohn's ideas and insights to bear on the problem of Nihilism, a problem in the development of which Mendelssohn is usually considered to have played a merely incidental role. It is argued that these two domains, seemingly worlds apart, are mutually illuminating. Moses Mendelssohn enters our history books in two separate contexts, which seem to have nothing in common. In the context of 'Jewish Studies,' Mendelssohn is best known for his idiosyncratic view of Judaism as a religion devoid of any principles of belief, and for his confidence in its compatibility with reason – positions develope...