Emil Fackenheim's Quest: From Philosophy to Prophetic Theology - Softcover

McRobert, Laurie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1479110566 ISBN 13: 9781479110568

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

Emil Fackenheim’s Quest: From Philosophy to Prophetic Theology constitutes a comprehensive study of the Jewish thinker Emil L. Fackenheim who lived between 1916 and 2003. The study begins with extracts of letters and articles which he wrote as early as 1939 and ends with his writing of To Mend the World published in 1982. It starts with the new thinking movement in Judaism, considers the mediaeval responses to prophecy and philosophy and includes the prophetic experience as described by modern Jewish thinkers. This sets the stage for Fackenheim’s quest. His writings clearly track the important philosophical and theological questions that preoccupy him during this time. These questions reveal his subjective concerns which focus on what becomes a pivotal question for him: Has God revealed Himself once more in history? One of the ways that Fackenheim responds to what he believes to be a revelation from God is in a prophetic way with the 614th commandment to Jews “Thou shalt not give Hitler Posthumous victories”. The book’s themes deal primarily with the Holocaust. The Holocaust is the firewall that neither traditional philosophy nor Christianity can transcend unless they put aside their grandiose theories of a perennial philosophical Truth, and of the Christ conquering event of death and thus evil. The Christ event, Fackenheim argues can no longer be seen as an overcoming of death (evil) since Christ never had to encounter the radical evil of the Holocaust. What would Christ a Jew have done during the Holocaust—save his people from the gas chambers, or die with them? Fackenheim is concerned for the Jewish people’s homeland Israel. His epiphany during the six day War includes the fact that Israel as a state is fragile and that Jews, religious or secular, whether they believe or not in God must join forces to protect it.

About this title

About the Author

Laurie McRobert is an independent scholar who received her Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion from McGill University where she lectured in the Department of Philosophy. Her first book Char Davies' Immersive Virtual Art and the Essence of Spatiality, explored spatiality from various disciplines concentrating primarily on immersive virtual art. He next book Appearances: Genetic Mythology and Cosmic Instincts took a step forward into a cosmic perspective of spatiality. The present book grapples with radical evil.

Reviews

A detailed study of German-born Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim’s thought. Philosopher McRobert (Appearances: Genetic Mythology and Cosmic Instincts, 2011, etc.) presents a thorough chronological analysis of Fackenheim’s writings. Fackenheim (1916-2003) was a Holocaust survivor, philosopher and rabbi. His work developed from his preoccupation with medieval philosophy and the works of philosophers Friedrich Schelling, Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, toward a search for existential foundations in the works of Georg Hegel and Soren Kierkegaard. Fackenheim’s study of Immanuel Kant’s works, McRobert writes, provided him with the means to pose theological issues philosophically. The author concludes that Fackenheim eventually went beyond philosophy and, in his major work, To Mend the World (1982), moved toward prophetic theology. She sets out to show how the philosopher’s early work prepared the way for this change by asserting that evil was an absolute, and by providing “prophetic symbols” for his philosophy and theology. Fackenheim, McRobert explains, ended up seeing the Holocaust as an event of transcendent absolute evil that forever fragments meaning—one that must be kept alive in the witnesses’ minds in order not to give Hitler any posthumous victories. The philosopher also came to see Israel as a necessary “secular-religious truth” to resist evil. This book provides a serious examination of philosophical and theological issues and is meant for scholarly, not casual, readers; it’s best suited for graduate students in philosophy. Students of contemporary Jewish thought, particularly those interested in ethics and theology in the light of the Holocaust, will likely be drawn to this detailed study, and readers of Fackenheim’s work, in particular, may also find it a helpful guide. A comprehensive inquiry into the central tenets of Fackenheim’s philosophy.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1479110566
• ISBN 13: 9781479110568
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 440