Paradox and the Prophets: Hermann Cohen and the Indirect Communication of Religion

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Daniel H. Weiss (Polonsky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies, Polonsky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK)

Paradox and the Prophets

Hermann Cohen and the Indirect Communication of Religion

Daniel H. Weiss (Polonsky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies, Polonsky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
30 August 2012

Nature & existence of God; Judaism: theology

Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) is widely regarded as the most influential representative of twentieth-century Jewish philosophy, and his Religion of Reason is often described as one of the most significant attempts to wrestle with the competing claims of philosophy and the Jewish religious tradition since Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed. Nevertheless, Cohen has often been treated merely as an historical precursor to later Jewish thinkers like Buber, Rosenzweig, and Levinas.

Daniel H. Weiss offers an insightful new reading of Religion of Reason, arguing that the style and method of Cohen's final work have long been fundamentally misunderstood. Previous readers, puzzled by the seemingly incompatible perspectives within Religion of Reason, have tended either to uphold one or another of the text's 'voices' or to criticize the text for intellectual incoherence. Weiss demonstrates that the multiplicity of Cohen's text is an essential element of its rational and communicative purposes. Drawing upon Kierkegaard as a theorist of indirect communication, he shows how Cohen combines the 'incompatible voices' of philosophy and of Scripture in order to convey religious and ethical ideas-such as the unique God, the other as You, and the messianic future-that would be distorted in a fully consistent, single-voiced mode of thought and communication. While focusing on the details and style of Cohen's text, Paradox and the Prophets also explores the broader philosophical claim that Religion of Reason, far from representing an outdated mode of thought, serves as a model for contemporary efforts to reason about religion and ethics.

By: Daniel H. Weiss (Polonsky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies Polonsky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies Cambridge University Cambridge UK)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 239mm, Width: 196mm, Spine: 29mm
Weight: 592g
ISBN: 9780199895908
ISBN 10: 0199895902
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 30 August 2012
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Abbreviations Introduction A Note on Terminology: Warding off some common connotations Chapter 1: Hermann Cohen's''The Style of the Prophets'' Chapter 2: The Sources of Multiplicity: Cohen's Project in its Own Terms Chapter 3: Resisting Auflösung: A Single-voiced Attempt Chapter 4: Making Cohen's Style Explicit: A Kierkegaardian Interlude Chapter 5: Communicating through Contradiction: Cohen's Performance of Religious Concepts Chapter 6: The Task, the Moment, and the Messianic Future Conclusion Bibliography

Polonsky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies, Cambridge University