Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929) is one of the most significant German Jewish philosophers of the twentieth century. Published in German in 1920 and now finally available in English for the first time, Hegel and the State is a major contribution to the understanding of Hegel's political and social thought and a profound analysis of the intellectual currents that shaped the German state in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through careful readings of Hegel’s early handwritten manuscripts, Rosenzweig shows that Hegel was wrestling with the problem of how to reconcile the subjectivity and freedom of the individual within a community and ultimately the political state. According to Rosenzweig, the route out of this conundrum chosen by Hegel shaped his mature political philosophy, where he saw the relationship between the individual and the state as reciprocal. At a deeper level, the significance of Hegel and the State lies in the way that Rosenzweig explains the failure of Hegel's quasi-communitarian view of the state to emerge, due to the authoritarian direction of the newly-unified German state under Bismarck. Anticipating the political and moral disaster that was to follow, Rosenzweig concludes by questioning the very viability of any theory of the state that relies on the pillars of bureaucratic militarism and a government-supported capitalist business culture. With the inclusion of a Foreword by Myriam Bienenstock and a substantial Afterword by Axel Honneth, Hegel and the State is a ground-breaking work of early twentieth-century philosophical and political thought. It is essential reading for students of Hegel, German Idealism, Jewish philosophy, and the origins of critical theory. It will also be of interest to those in related subjects such as the history of sociology, and German and intellectual history.

Das Erscheinen der Gesammelten Schriften Franz Rosenzweigs stellt ein Ereignis von besonderem geistigen Rang dar. Denn es ist ganz unbestritten, dass Franz Rosenzweig zu den bedeutend- sten judischen Denkern unseres Jahrhunderts gehort, ja, dass er vermutlich sogar weit uber unsere Epoche hinaus von Bedeutung sein wird. E. Levinas hat Rosenzweig nicht zu Unrecht Gestalten wie Blaise Pascal und Soren Kierkegaard an die Seite gestelltl. Gleichwohl ist das Werk Rosenzweigs bis jetzt nur schwer zu- ganglich gewesen. Und zwar nicht nur aus den Grunden, derent- wegen auch sonst ein Werk, das Entscheidendes zu sagen hat, seine Zeit braucht, bis es zuganglich wird, sondern auch deshalb, weil sich dem Schicksal des Werkes Rosenzweigs die leidvollen Spuren der judischen Emigration deutlich eingegraben haben. Franz Rosenzweig starb 42-jahrig im Dezember 1929, drei Jahre vor dem Ausbruch der braunen Diktatur. Edith Rosen- zweig, seine Gattin, konnte zwar 1935 und 1937 noch die Kleine- ren Schriften und eine Auswahl aus Rosenzweigs Briefen ver- offentlichen. Die beiden Bande gehoren zu den wenigen umfang- reicheren von Juden verfassten Buchern, deren Druck in jenen Jahren moglich war. An weitere Veroffentlichungen war damals aber nicht zu denken. Der handschriftliche Nachlass Rosenzweigs wurde zum Teil Glatzernach den Vereinigten Staaten, zum Teil durch Nahum N.

In einem Brief an Martin Buber schrieb FR, am 25. Oktober 1925, daB sich seine eigentliche "literarische Entwicklung" seit 1920 im Ubersetzen abgespielt habe. Wie jede Selbstcharakteristik stimmt diese Feststellung sicher nur zum Teil. Wesentlich jedoch ist die daB es sich bei FRs Ubersetzungen urn eine literarische Tatsache, Entwicklung mit unterscheidbaren Stilperioden handelt. Am Anfang dieser Entwicklung stehen die Ubersetzungen einiger Gebetszyklen, die zunachst im grade gegriindeten eigenen Hausstand gebraucht wurden. Zur zweiten Phase geh6ren die Ubertragungen von Hymnen mittelalteriicher Dichter die, gewissermassen als Sekun- dariiteratur, in die jiidische Liturgie aufgenommen wurden. Der Weg fiihrte weiter zu der Auswahl der Gedichte Jehuda Halevis und dann zur Verdeutschung der Schrift. Schon in der liturgischen Phase machte FR es sich nicht leicht. Die Ubersetzungen muBten nicht nur dem hebraischen oder dem aramai- schen Wortsinn entsprechen - sie muBten auch mit den dem deutschen Judentum vertrauten Melodien zu singen sein. Eine wissenschaftlich genaue oder "w6rtliche" Ubersetzung konnte so nicht entstehen. Die drei Worte, mit denen die meisten Segensspriiche der hebraischen Liturgie beginnen, zum Beispie- baruch ata adonai - waren w6rtlich etwa mit "Gelobt Du me in Herr" zu iibersetzen. Da standen aber den sieben hebraischen Silben nur fiinf deutsche gegeniiber, was diese unsingbar gemacht hatte. FRs Formulierung - Lob nun ja Lob dir 0 Gott - mag als bezeichnend fiir die Anfange seiner Ubersetzungen genommen werden.

In einem Brief an Martin Buber schrieb FR, am 25. Oktober 1925, daB sich seine eigentliche "literarische Entwicklung" seit 1920 im Ubersetzen abgespielt habe. Wie jede Selbstcharakteristik stimmt diese Feststellung sicher nur zum Teil. Wesentlich jedoch ist die daB es sich bei FRs Ubersetzungen urn eine literarische Tatsache, Entwicklung mit unterscheidbaren Stilperioden handelt. Am Anfang dieser Entwicklung stehen die Ubersetzungen einiger Gebetszyklen, die zunachst im grade gegriindeten eigenen Hausstand gebraucht wurden. Zur zweiten Phase geh6ren die Ubertragungen von Hymnen mittelalteriicher Dichter die, gewissermassen als Sekun- dariiteratur, in die jiidische Liturgie aufgenommen wurden. Der Weg fiihrte weiter zu der Auswahl der Gedichte Jehuda Halevis und dann zur Verdeutschung der Schrift. Schon in der liturgischen Phase machte FR es sich nicht leicht. Die Ubersetzungen muBten nicht nur dem hebraischen oder dem aramai- schen Wortsinn entsprechen - sie muBten auch mit den dem deutschen Judentum vertrauten Melodien zu singen sein. Eine wissenschaftlich genaue oder "w6rtliche" Ubersetzung konnte so nicht entstehen. Die drei Worte, mit denen die meisten Segensspriiche der hebraischen Liturgie beginnen, zum Beispie- baruch ata adonai - waren w6rtlich etwa mit "Gelobt Du me in Herr" zu iibersetzen. Da standen aber den sieben hebraischen Silben nur fiinf deutsche gegeniiber, was diese unsingbar gemacht hatte. FRs Formulierung - Lob nun ja Lob dir 0 Gott - mag als bezeichnend fiir die Anfange seiner Ubersetzungen genommen werden.

This volume brings together Rosenzweig's central essays on theology and philosophy, including two works available for the first time in English: the conclusion to Rosenzweig's book Hegel and the State, and Rosenweig's famous letter to Rudolph Ehrenberg known as the 'Urzelle of the Star of Redemption', an essential work for understanding Rosenweig, Weimar theology and philosophy, and German idealism and the existential reaction of the period. Additional selections are presented in new or revised translations. Introduction and notes by Franks and Morgan set Rosenzweig's works in context and illuminates his role as one of the key thinkers of the period.

This volume brings together Rosenzweig's central essays on theology and philosophy, including two works available for the first time in English: the conclusion to Rosenzweig's book Hegel and the State, and Rosenzweig's famous letter to Rudolph Ehrenberg known as the Urzelle of the Star of Redemption, an essential work for understanding Rosenzweig, Weimar theology and philosophy, and German idealism and the existential reaction of the period. Additional selections are presented in new or revised translations. Introduction and notes by Franks and Morgan set Rosenzweig's works in context and illuminate his role as one of the key thinkers of the period.

Franz Rosenzweig is one of the greatest contributors to Jewish philosophy in the twentieth century and is, with Martin Buber and Abraham Heschel, one of the Jewish thinkers most widely read by Christians. "On Jewish Learning" collects essays, speeches, and letters that express Rosenzweig's desire to reconnect the profound truths of Judaism with the lives of ordinary people. An assimilated Jew and scholar of German philosophy, Rosenzweig was on the point of conversion to Christianity when the experience of a Yom Kippur service in 1913 brought him back to Judaism, and he began to study with philosopher Hermann Cohen. Seeking how to be an observant Jew in the modern world, Rosenzweig refused to characterize the traditions of Jewish law as mere rituals, customs, and folkways. His aim for himself and for others was to find Judaism by living it, and to live it by knowing it more deeply. The Wisconsin edition is not for sale in the British Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland, or South Africa.

"Franz Rosenzweig's The Star of Redemption is one of the few lasting books of our century, a work whose originality transcends the disciplinary limits of philosophy and religion, and which must be read by anyone whose concern with the meaning of daily life is urgent and abiding". -- Maurice Natanson, Yale University

The Star of Redemption is widely recognized as a key document modern existential thought and a significant contribution to wish theology in the twentieth century. An affirmation of what Rosenzweig called "the new thinking", the work ensconces common sense in the place of abstract, conceptual philosophizing and posits the validity of the concrete, individual human being over that of "humanity" in general.

Fusing philosophy and theology, it assigns both Judaism and Christianity distinct but equally important roles in the spiritual structure of the world, and finds in both biblical religions approaches toward a comprehension of reality.

Resuming the anti-Hegelian revolt of Schopenhauer, Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, Rosenzweig repudiates the attempt by German idealism to reduce to one essence the three elements of reality: God, the world, and man. In The Star of Redemption, he sets forth a system in which these elements are shown to be independent, irreducible from each other, and linked through the "paths" of creation, revelation, and redemption.

The Star of Redemption is widely recognized as a key document of modern existential thought and a significant contribution to Jewish theology in the twentieth century. An affirmation of what Rosenzweig called "the new thinking," the work ensconces common sense in the place of abstract, conceptual philosophizing and posits the validity of the concrete, individual human being over that of "humanity" in general. Fusing philosophy and theology, it assigns both Judaism and Christianity distinct but equally important roles in the spiritual structure of the world, and finds in both biblical religions approaches toward a comprehension of reality.

Translated here for the first time by Barbara E. Galli, these five lectures and writings of Franz Rosenzweig will be welcomed by both the novice and the veteran student of the great philosopher. Based on his lectures at the Jildisches Freies Lehrhaus, the famous Jewish Institute of Adult Education, the essays include notes for a group of lectures of 1920, "Faith and Knowledge," followed by a three-part lecture series of 1922: "The Science of God," "The Science of Man," and the "Science of World." The pieces form a powerful whole. Not only does this book further our understanding of Rosenzweig's daunting work, The Star of Redemption--a seemingly inexhaustible text--but of Rosenzweig's primary principles, that of the irreducibility of God, human being, and world, and of the needfulness of relation and of time for the nourishment of truth and cognition. He expounds on his premise that faith and knowledge are interdependent, and that knowledge is derivative of faith.

Based on the author's lectures at the Judisches Freies Lehrhaus, these essays include notes for a group of lectures of 1920, Faith and Knowledge, followed by a three-part lecture series of 1922, The Science of God, The Science of Man, and The Science of World.

This is the first publication in English of Franz Rosenzweig's 1927 translation of and commentaries on ninety-two poems and hymns of the greatest medieval "singer of Zion", Yehuda Halevi (born circa 1080). Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929) is widely recognized as one of the greatest Jewish philosophers of the modern period and his Star of Redemption is considered one of the most important twentieth-century contributions to Jewish -- and Christian -- theology.

Rosenzweig's original and brilliant commentaries open a window into the final developments of his own thought: his debates with Protestant theology, his reservations regarding modern science and culture, and his progressive appreciation for the wisdom of the Jewish tradition. They are a testament not only to the profound vision of Judaism embedded in the poetry of Yehuda Halevi, but to the ever vibrant and deepening sagacity of Franz Rosenzweig himself.