Resisting History: Historicism and Its Discontents in German-Jewish Thought
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"In Resisting History, David Myers places himself among the most skillful and penetrating interpreters of the modern Jewish intellectual experience. Myers offers an exciting and compelling analysis that demonstrates how the 'historicist readings' of the Jewish past inaugurated by the nineteenth-century practitioners of juedische Wissenschaft gave way to a host of 'antihistoricist' twentieth-century cultural-religious-philosophical alternatives. Resisting History compels the reader to reflect on the subtle dialectics involved in the encounter between Jewish tradition and the modern world as Jews--like other moderns--engage in the ongoing human task of constructing meaning. This book will deservedly command a large audience."--David Ellenson, President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion"Antihistoricism may have also its own history. David Myers's masterpiece convincingly demonstrates that in Judaism its modern manifestations certainly have a precise geography. After chartering the historicistic approach in what he calls the Jerusalem-school in his first book, in this fascinating and well-documented study he turns back to map the main stages of the German-Jewish exponents of the attempt to resist German historicism. Indubitably, a major contribution to modern Jewish intellectual history and thought."--Moshe Idel, Hebrew University, author of Absorbing Perfections"It is one of the great paradoxes of modernity that historians are our idol-smashers but history is our idol. David Myers's fascinating and erudite book tells the refreshing tale of Jewish philosophers and theologians who refused to allow history the last word in the understanding of life. He shows that there was a day, not so long ago, when facts were not the most cherished possession of culture, and metaphysical speculation was the enemy of intellectual complacence, and time was the beginning of reflection and not its end. Myers has written a stirring and significant chapter in the history of the limits of history, a genuinely critical book."--Leon Wieseltier"This is Jewish intellectual history at its best. Myers opens a new gate to the way that modern Jews looked at their history. Without any doubt, this book--opposing many opinions that have thus far been taken for granted--will have a major impact on future work in Jewish Studies. The broad topic, the depth of research, the plethora of new sources, and last but not least the beautiful style should appeal to an audience beyond the circles of Jewish Studies."--Michael Brenner, author of The Renaissance of Jewish Culture in Weimar Germany"Lucidly written and well argued, this book shows a superb command of the available literature and demonstrates considerable historiographical sophistication. It represents a valuable complement to Myers's earlier venerable work."--Richard Wolin, author of Heidegger's Children Samuel Moyn - The Forward David N. Myer's sparkling new book studies what happened to Jewish thought when, in modern times, history left behind its earlier, sacred incarnations and became a subject of secular investigation by critical scholars. . . . Two innovations in Myer's book are especially noteworthy. First, Myers integrates the study of Jewish trends with the examination of corresponding Christian developments, since they were often contemporaneous. . . . Second, Myers is especially interested in the ways in which his protagonists reacted to the project of Jewish history. . . . Not the least of the accomplishments of Myer's outstanding work of history is that, intentionally or not, it raises the question of whether history is up to the acknowledgement of its own limitations.
AcknowledgmentsA Note on the CoverIntroduction1Ch. 1Jewish Historicism and Its Discontents: An Introduction13Ch. 2Hermann Cohen and the Problem of History at the Fin de Siecle35Ch. 3Franz Rosenzweig and the Rise of Theological Anti-Historicism68Ch. 4Anti-Historicism and the Theological-Political Predicament in Weimar Germany: The Case of Leo Strauss106Ch. 5Isaac Breuer and the Jewish Path to Metageschichte130Ch. 6From Conclusion to Opening: A Word on Influence, German Jews, and the Cultural History of Ideas157Notes173Bibliography233Index251
