Resources
and LinksReligious Studies 778 (Fall
2006)
(Crosslisted with Cultural Studies & Critical Theory 778)
updated October 26, 2006
This syllabus is posted at http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/778 and is also accessible by way of my home page (see below). It will be updated periodically, and students in the class are asked to consult it regularly during the semester.
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Course Description / Course Readings / Course Requirements | SCHEDULE: September / October / November
An introduction to some major figures and texts in modern Jewish thought, with an emphasis on German Judaism and its legacy. Readings by Moses Mendelssohn, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Emmanuel Levinas.
Special focus on modern Jewish conceptualizations of history and politics, and on the implications of the category of "Jewish philosophy."
There is usually more than one way you can obtain each reading - see details for each title on the syllabus.
Books for this course have been ordered with Titles
All the readings are also on reserve at Mills Library. Check on the status of a title via the MORRIS online catalogue, or look up the Mills Library reserve lists under "Hollander."
Also on reserve are the German- and French-language original editions of the works we will be studying; please ask me if you would like help in locating any of these.
In addition, master copies of shorter texts we are reading will be made available in the Religious Studies Department office (UH 104), to use for making personal copies.
Grades will be based on Participation/Presentation 50%, Written Work 50%.
Course participants with even rudimentary German or French skills are strongly encouraged to work with original-language texts in parallel with the translations. Depending on interest among class members, we might supplement this class with a weekly German or French reading session.
Organizational Meeting, Introductory Remarks
(NOTE: We will end by 3 p.m. to enable attendance of
lecture by Kenneth Reinhard - see http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/danahol/colloquium/)
General Readings on "Jewish Philosophy":
Ze'ev Levy, "The Nature of Modern Jewish Philosophy," in The History of Jewish Philosophy (1997/2003) [book on reserve]
Paul Mendes-Flohr, "Jewish Philosophy and Theology" in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, ed. Martin Goodman (2002) [master copy in UH 104]
General Readings on German-Jewish Intellectual/Cultural History:
Gershom Scholem, "Against the Myth of the German-Jewish Dialogue" (1964); "Once More: The German-Jewish Dialogue" (1965); "Jews and Germans" (1966) in On Jews and Judaism in Crisis [book on reserve]
Michael A. Meyer, "The German Jews: Some Perspectives on Their History" (1990) from Alan L. Berger (ed.), Judaism in the Modern World [book on reserve]
George L. Mosse, chap. 1 from German Jews Beyond Judaism (1985) [book on reserve]
Michael A. Meyer, chap. 2 from Response to Modernity. A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism (1988) [book on reserve]
Michael A. Meyer/Michael Brenner (eds.), German-Jewish History in Modern Times, esp. vol. 3: Integration in Dispute, 1871-1918 and vol. 4: Renewal and Destruction, 1918-1945 [books on reserve]
General Readings on Judaism and Politics/History:
The Jewish Political Tradition, ed. Walzer, Lorberbaum et al. vol. 1: Authority (2000), vol. 2: Membership (2003) [books on reserve]
Ismar Schorsch, "On the History of the Political Judgment of the Jew" (1976) [master copy in UH 104]
Menachem Lorberbaum, "Introduction" to Politics and the Limits of Law. Secularizing the Political in Medieval Jewish Thought (2001) [book on reserve]
ASSIGNMENT: Secondary Literature Report (due October 10)
Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786)
Jerusalem, or On Religious Power and Judaism (1783),
trans. Allan Arkush [purchase book], Section I
(original: Jerusalem oder über religiöse
Macht und Judentum, ed. David Martyn, or in Mendelssohn, Jubiläumsausgabe,
Band 8 [books on reserve])
Concordance for editions of Jerusalem.
Introductory Readings on Mendelssohn:
Julius H. Schoeps, "1783. Moses Mendelssohn writes Jerusalem..." in Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture, 1096-1996, ed. Gilman/Zipes [book on reserve/master copy in UH 104]
Allan Arkush, "Mendelssohn, Moses" and Jay Harris, "Enlightenment, Jewish" in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998) [online/Mills Reference]
Daniel Dahlstrom, "Moses Mendelssohn" in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2002) [online]
Alexander Altmann, "Introduction" to Mendelssohn, Jerusalem, trans. Allan Arkush (1983) [purchase book/book on reserve]
Willi Goetschel, Spinoza's Modernity. Mendelssohn, Lessing, and Heine (2004), Part 2, esp. chap. 10 [book on reserve]
Mendelssohn, cont'd
Jerusalem, Section II
presentation - Jon Zeyl
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13 - MAKEUP CLASS, 4-6 p.m.Mendelssohn, revisited A discussion of secondary literature on Mendelssohn, based on participants' Secondary Literature Reports. |
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Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) 
Religion of Reason Out of the Sources of Judaism (1919, 2nd ed. 1929) : "Introduction," chaps. 4 and 5. [book available for purchase/on reserve/master copies to be placed in UH 104] (Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums [book on reserve])
Hermann Cohen chronology [handout]
Introductory/Background Reading on Hermann Cohen:
Michael Zank, "Cohen, Hermann (1842-1918)," in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy [online/Mills Reference] and "Introduction" to The Idea of Atonement in the Philosophy of Hermann Cohen (2000) [book on reserve]Andrea Poma, The Critical Philosophy of Hermann Cohen (1988; translated 1997) [book on reserve/online via netlibrary]
Kenneth Seeskin, "How To Read Religion of Reason" in Cohen, Religion of Reason, 2nd ed. (Scholars Press, 1995) [purchase book or consult on reserve]Micha Brumlik, "1915: In Deutschtum und Judentum Hermann Cohen applies neo-Kantian philosophy to the German Jewish Question," The Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture, 1096-1996 [book on reserve]
Nathan Rotenstreich, "Religion of Reason" in Jews and German Philosophy. The Polemics of Emancipation (1984) [book on reserve], pp. 60-70 [master copy to be placed in UH 104]
presentation - Zipporah Weisberg
Religion of Reason, chapter 13, pp. 236-68 and chapter 14, pp. 289-95; "The Neighbor" (1914) [handout] and chap. 8
presentations - Zipporah Weisberg (cont'd), Laura Tomes
NOVEMBER 6
Franz Rosenzweig (1889-1929)
"Atheistic Theology (1914) in Philosophical and Theological Writings [book available for purchase/on reserve] ("Atheistische Theologie" in Zweistromland [book on reserve])
"The New Thinking" (1925) in Franz Rosenzweig's 'The New Thinking', ed. Udoff/Galli [book available for purchase/on reserve] ("Das neue Denken" in Zweistromland [book on reserve])
see also alternative translation in Philosophical and Theological Writings, as well as my list of Errata for that translation
The Star of Redemption (1921), trans. Barbara E. Galli [book available for purchase/on reserve]: Introduction (Der Stern der Erlösung [book on reserve])
Franz Rosenzweig chronology [handout]
Supplementary Material on Rosenzweig's Philosophy and Life:
Nahum Glatzer, "Introduction," Franz Rosenzweig. His Life and Thought (1953; new edition, 1998) [book on reserve]Arnold Betz, Franz Rosenzweig. His Life and Works. (Exhibit and Essay) [Website at the Divinity Library, Vanderbilt University]
Martin Jay, "1920: The Free Jewish School is founded in Frankfurt..." from The Yale Companion (1997) [book on reserve]
Paul Mendes-Flohr, "1914: Franz Rosenzweig writes the essay 'Atheistic Theology'..." from The Yale Companion (1997) [book on reserve]
Stéphane Mosès, System and Revelation. The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig (1982) [book on reserve]
Norbert Samuelson, A User's Guide to Franz Rosenzweig's 'Star of Redemption' (1999) [book on reserve]
Emmanuel Levinas, "Between Two Worlds" (1959) in Difficult Freedom [book on reserve]; and "Franz Rosenzweig: A Modern Jewish Thinker" (1965) in Outside the Subject [book on reserve]
presentation - Laura Lee Nimilowich
Rosenzweig, cont'd
The Star of Redemption (1921), 
Part
2, Book 2: 169-78, 180-85, 187-202, 213-20; Part 3, Book 1, pp.
317-55
"Of Bildung There Is No End" (1920) in Ochs/Levine (eds.), Textual Reasonings. Jewish Philosophy and Text Study at the End of the Twentieth Century (2002) [book on reserve - see Michael Zank, "Franz Rosenzweig, the 1920s and the <email> moment of textual reasoning"]
presentations - Laura Lee Nimilowich (cont'd), Rodney Leggett
NOVEMBER 27, DECEMBER 4Emmanuel Levinas (1905-1995) |
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| Ethics & Infinity. Conversations
with Philippe Nemo (1982) [purchase book/book on reserve] (Ethique
et infini [book on reserve])
"Dialogue" with Richard Kearney (1981), from Kearney, Dialogues with Contemporary Continental Thinkers [book on reserve/master copy planned] "Is Ontology Fundamental?" in Basic Philosophical Writings [book available for purchase/on reserve/master copy planned] ("L'ontologie est-elle fondamentale?" in Entre Nous. Essais sur le penser-à-l'autre [book on reserve]) "Philosophy and the Idea of the Infinite," bilingual edition in Peperzak, To the Other [purchase book/on reserve/master copy planned] "Preface" to Totality and Infinity (1961) [purchase book/on reserve] Dana Hollander, "Levinas, Emmanuel," from The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism, 2nd ed., 2005 [available online to McMaster affiliates] Emmanuel Levinas chronology [handout] presentation - Tema Smith |
Supplementary:
Adriaan Peperzak, To the Other. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (1993) [book available for purchase/on reserve] Robert Bernasconi, "Levinas, Emmanuel" in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998) [online/Mills Reference] Edith Wyschogrod, Emmanuel Levinas. The Problem of Ethical Metaphysics, 2nd ed. (2000) [book on reserve] Jacques Derrida, "Violence and Metaphysics" (1964/1967) in Writing and Difference [book on reserve]; Adieu to Emmanuel Levinas (1997) [book on reserve]
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Background image is from the cover of Franz Rosenzweig, Sechzig Hymnen und Gedichte des Jehuda Halevi (Konstanz: Oskar Wöhrle, n.d. [1924]), courtesy of Arnd Wedemeyer.
Copyright © 2004-2006 Dana Hollander
(905) 525-9140, ext. 24759* 
