An Episode of Jewish Romanticism: Franz Rosenzweig's the Star of Redemption

Examining romanticism in thought of Jewish philosopher. Franz Rosenzweig, this book compares his magnum opus, Star of Redemption, with Leo Baeck's essay, "Romantic Religion, " and Friedrich Schelling's Philosophy of Art, texts representing distinct and, to a large extent, opposed interpretations of romanticism.Rosenzweig's thought was shaped by two intellectual history Germany's and Judaism's. Because romanticism had such a definitive impact on modern German writing and thought, it becomes a question whether, and to what extent, Rosenzweig, too, was a romantic. Part of the force of the question derives from the tensions sometimes noted between Jewish and romantic worldviews. In this book, author Ernest Rubinstein shows The Star of Redemption to be along the spectrum that extends between Baeck and Schelling, and thus illustrates a qualified romanticism.

Ernest Rubinstein is Librarian at the Ecumenical Library, The Interchurch Center, New York City and is Instructor at New York University's School of Continuing Education.