Modern Jewish Thinkers: From Mendelssohn to Rosenzweig

By making available English translations of writings of major Jewish thinkers from the 18th through 20th centuries for the first time, Greenberg (philosophy and religion, American U., Washington, DC) may change English speakers' views of them. Following an introduction to the Jewish Emancipation and its effects on European Jewish thought concerning the relationship between Torah/faith and reason/philosophy, he groups thinkers by the categories of: dialectical truth (e.g., Mendelssohn, Reggio); intellection and developing consciousness (Maimon, Formstecher, Hirsch); revelation (Rosensweig); history (Ascher, Einhorn, Graetz); and universal morality (Salanter, Shadal, Buber). The author discusses how Maimonides is now used to defend conflicting positions. The volume includes a glossary of translated German terms and individual introductions to, and summaries of, translated passages. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Gershon Greenberg (Ph.D Columbia University) works at American University in Washington, DC, in the fields of Holocaust religious thought, America-Holy Land, and 19th century German-Jewish thought, and has taught in the departments of Jewish thought at Israel’s major universities.