A History of Modern Jewish Religious Philosophy: Volume III: The Crisis of Humanism. A Historical Crossroads (Supplements to The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 29)

Book info: A History of Modern Jewish Religious Philosophy: Volume III: The Crisis of Humanism. A Historical Crossroads (Supplements to The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 29) (Hardcover, 524 pages) – Brill, 2019. Language: English.

The culmination of Eliezer Schweid’s life-work as a Jewish intellectual historian, this five-volume work provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary account of the major thinkers and movements in modern Jewish thought, in the context of general philosophy and Jewish social-political historical developments, with extensive primary source excerpts. Volume Three, The Crisis of Humanism, commences with an important essay on the challenge to the humanist tradition posed in the late 19th century by historical materialism, existentialism and positivism. This is background for the constructive philosophies which sought at the same time to address the general crisis of moral value and provide a positive basis for Jewish existence. Among the thinkers presented in this volume are Moses Hess, Moritz Lazarus, Hermann Cohen (in impressive depth, with a thorough exposition of the Ethics and Religion of Reason), Ahad Ha-Am, I. J. Reines, Simon Dubnow, M. Y. Berdiczewski, the theorists of the Bund, Chaim Zhitlovsky, Nachman Syrkin, and Ber Borochov. Editorial Reviews About the Author Eliezer Schweid is Emeritus Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, Israel Prize laureate, and author of over 40 books on Jewish thought, addressing the relevance of the Jewish legacy to issues of Jewish and universal human concern.
Leonard Levin, Ph.D. (1973, Brandeis), has translated many of Eliezer Schweid’s books, including The Responsibility of Jewish Philosophy (Brill, 2013) and edited Studies in Judaism and Pluralism (Ben-Yehuda, 2016). He teaches Jewish philosophy at Academy for Jewish Religion, Yonkers, NY.