Judaism and the West

Robert Erlewine is Associate Professor of Religion at Illinois Wesleyan University. He is author of Monotheism and Tolerance: Recovering a Religion of Reason (IUP, 2009).

"Judaism in the West is an excellent book, which reaches further than its unassuming tone would have one assume. It is essential reading for scholars of Jewish thought, and valuable for anyone interested in religious studies methodology, and the relationship between Jewish and religious studies. "—Reading Religion"[The] author has done an important service for the fields of Jewish studies and religious studies by linking the thought of five great modern Jewish philosophers directly to the problem of the West and of Judaism's place in it. "—Harvard Theological Review"Erlewine's book provides a distinctive, indispensable introduction to modern Jewish thought. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice"While the thinkers examined here are hardly unknown, each chapter offers an original analysis that builds on but also importantly adds to previous scholarship. One of the book's important contributions lays in the philosophical credit that is granted to Buber, Heschel, and Soloveitchik, who are often taken to be of less philosophical rigor than Cohen and Rosenzweig, and Erlewine's justification for giving this credit."—Religious Studies Review"An important study that provides a good overview of some of the problems and growing pains inherent to modern Jewish philosophizing. Taken as a whole, the book provides an excellent introduction to modern Jewish philosophy."—Aaron Hughes, author of The Invention of Jewish Identity"A veritable tour de force and will certainly be greeted as a seminal contribution to the study of modern Jewish thought."—Paul Mendes-Flohr, author of The Promises and Limitations of Interfaith Dialogue"Overall, this short book offers an engaging take on some of the classics of modern Jewish philosophy and makes a spirited case for debating their legacy in light of the contemporary study of religion."—Journal of Religion

• Introduction1. Exemplarity and the German-Jewish Symbiosis: Hermann Cohen on War and Religion2. Symbol not Sacrifice: Cohen's Jewish Jesus3. Fire, Rays, and the Dark: Rosenzweig and the Oriental/Occidental Divide4. Redeeming this World: Buber's Judaism and the Sanctity of Immanence5. Prophets, Prophecy and Divine Wrath: Heschel and the God of Pathos6. Cultivating Objectivity: Soloveitchik, The Marburg School, and the Religious PluralismConclusionNotesIndex