Judaism in Contemporary Thought ─ Traces and Influence

The central aim of this collection is to trace the presence of Jewish tradition in contemporary philosophy. This presence is, on the one hand, undeniable, manifesting itself in manifold allusions and influences – on the other hand, difficult to define, rarely referring to openly revealed Judaic sources.

Following the recent tradition of Lévinas and Derrida, this book tentatively refers to this mode of presence in terms of "traces of Judaism" and the contributors grapple with the following questions: What are these traces and how can we track them down? Is there such a thing as "Jewish difference" that truly makes a difference in philosophy? And if so, how can we define it? The additional working hypothesis, accepted by some and challenged by other contributors, is that Jewish thought draws, explicitly or implicitly, on three main concepts of Jewish theology, creation, revelation and redemption. If this is the case, then the specificity of the Jewish contribution to modern philosophy and the theoretical humanities should be found in – sometimes open, sometimes hidden – fidelity to these three categories.

Offering a new understanding of the relationship between philosophy and theology, this book is an important contribution to the fields of Theology, Philosophy and Jewish Studies.

Agata Bielik-Robson is Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Nottingham and at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw. Her research interests include: modern Jewish thought, psychoanalysis, and philosophy of religion. She is the author of The Saving Lie: Harold Bloom and Deconstruction (2011).

Adam Lipszyc works at the Insitute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Science and at the Franz Kafka University of Muri. His most recent publication is a study of Walter Benjamin’s philosophy of language and justice, entitled Justice on the Tip of the Tongue (2012). He edited the volume Emmanuel Levinas: Philosophy, Theology, Politics (2006) and co-edited Abraham Joshua Heschel: Philosophy, Theology and Interreligious Dialogue (2009).