Salvation through Spinoza [electronic resource] : a study of Jewish culture in Weimar Germany / by David J. Wertheim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wertheim, David J.

Series:

Jewish and Christian perspectives series ; v. 21.

Jewish and Christian perspectives series, 1388-2074 ; v. 21

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Germany--Intellectual life--20th century.

Jews.

Jews--Germany--Identity--History--20th century.

Germany--Intellectual life--20th century.

Germany.

Germany--History--1918-1933.

Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677--Influence.

Spinoza, Benedictus de.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (244 p.)

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Despite his reputation as a heretic, Baruch Spinoza was one of the major heroes of the Jewish cultural Renaissance in Weimar Germany. This study traces Weimar Jewry's infatuation with Spinoza as it was manifested in scholarship, the popular press, and novels. It tells of how Jews, who found themselves oscillating between the social pressures to both assimilate and remain authentic, sought refuge in a thinker who epitomized both the rationality and liberalism of the Weimar Republic’s enlightened defenders as well as the mysticism of its neo-romanticist challengers. In recapturing this forgotten chapter in the history of Spinozism this book sheds an original light on Weimar Germany’s reknown Jewish culture.

Contents:

Celebrating Spinoza

Jews and Germans

Integration and authenticity

Historicism and messianism

Rejecting Spinoza's celebration

'The signature of the era' literature.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-28075-2

9786613280756

90-04-20921-2

OCLC:

754582329

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004209213 DOI