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Judaism Despite Christianity: The 1916 Wartime Correspondence Between Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Franz Rosenzweig
Before they were both internationally renowned philosophers, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Franz Rosenzweig were young German soldiers fighting in World War I corresponding by letter and forming the foundation of their deep intellectual friendship. Collected here, this correspondence provides an intimate portrait of their views on history, philosophy, rhetoric, and religion as well as on their writings and professors. Most centrally, Rosenstock-Huessy and Rosenzweig discuss, frankly but respectfully, the differences between Judaism and Chiristianity and the reasons they have chosen their respective faiths.
This edition includes a new foreword by Paul Mendes-Flohr, a new preface by Harold Stahmer along with his original introduction, and essays by Dorothy Emmet and Alexander Altmann, who calls this correspondence “one of the most important religious documents of our age” and “the most perfect example of a human approach to the Jewish-Christian problem.”
This edition includes a new foreword by Paul Mendes-Flohr, a new preface by Harold Stahmer along with his original introduction, and essays by Dorothy Emmet and Alexander Altmann, who calls this correspondence “one of the most important religious documents of our age” and “the most perfect example of a human approach to the Jewish-Christian problem.”
198 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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About the author
Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy
74 books34 followersEugen Rosenstock-Hüssy (July 6, 1888 – February 24, 1973) was a historian and social philosopher, whose work spanned the disciplines of history, theology, sociology, linguistics and beyond. Born in Berlin, Germany into a non-observant Jewish family, the son of a prosperous banker, he converted to Christianity in his late teens, and thereafter the interpretation and reinterpretation of Christianity was a consistent theme in his writings. He met and married Margrit Hüssy in 1914. In 1925, the couple legally combined their names. They had a son, Hans, in 1921.
Rosenstock-Huessy served as an officer in the German army during World War I. His experience caused him to reexamine the foundations of liberal Western culture. He then pursued an academic career in Germany as a specialist in medieval law, which was disrupted by the rise of Nazism. In 1933, after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he emigrated to the United States where he began a new academic career, initially at Harvard University and then at Dartmouth College, where he taught from 1935 to 1957.
Although never part of the mainstream of intellectual discussion during his lifetime, his work drew the attention of W. H. Auden, Harold Berman, Martin Marty, Lewis Mumford, Page Smith, and others. Rosenstock-Huessy may be best known as the close friend of and correspondent with Franz Rosenzweig. Their exchange of letters is considered by scholars of religion and theology to be indispensable in the study of the modern encounter of Jews with Christianity. In his work, Rosenstock-Huessy discussed speech and language as the dominant shaper of human character and abilities in every social context. He is viewed as belonging to a group of thinkers who revived post-Nietzschean religious thought.
Rosenstock-Huessy served as an officer in the German army during World War I. His experience caused him to reexamine the foundations of liberal Western culture. He then pursued an academic career in Germany as a specialist in medieval law, which was disrupted by the rise of Nazism. In 1933, after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he emigrated to the United States where he began a new academic career, initially at Harvard University and then at Dartmouth College, where he taught from 1935 to 1957.
Although never part of the mainstream of intellectual discussion during his lifetime, his work drew the attention of W. H. Auden, Harold Berman, Martin Marty, Lewis Mumford, Page Smith, and others. Rosenstock-Huessy may be best known as the close friend of and correspondent with Franz Rosenzweig. Their exchange of letters is considered by scholars of religion and theology to be indispensable in the study of the modern encounter of Jews with Christianity. In his work, Rosenstock-Huessy discussed speech and language as the dominant shaper of human character and abilities in every social context. He is viewed as belonging to a group of thinkers who revived post-Nietzschean religious thought.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 15, 2023
I read this book because someone recommended reading it to someone else who had recently converted to Judaism and I thought I might be able to discover a hidden gem along my journey to discover whether Judaism or Christianity is true.
I found these correspondences to be very confusing and disorganized. It was hard to follow a train of thought throughout, because Rosenstock and Rosenzweig almost never responded point-by-point to what the other person was saying.
I understand that these are letters and that they weren't intended to be read by a wider audience. However, there were several instances in which one or the other of these two men expressed that *they themselves* were confused by what the other person had just said / what the core argument was.
There was little discussion about what holiness actually entailed, and almost nothing theological (about whether Jesus was truly the messiah, and whether he was God). Discussion seemed more focused on the *institutions* of The Church and The Synagogue rather than on the ideas behind them.
Despite these lack of fundamental definitions (maybe they defined them in person and didn't see the need to repeat themselves in writing?) Rosenstock-Huessy argued that Christianity was doing a much better job at sanctifying the world than Judaism (which is closed off to outsiders and doesn't seem to invest a lot of energy in Noahidism) and Rosenzweig argued that Judaism's exclusivity was necessary to prevent its orthodoxy from being corrupted by the influence of the world.
But if Rosenstock-Huessy doesn't agree that Judaism's orthodoxy is, in fact, "ortho" (because Rosenstock-Huessy believes that Jesus took the Mosaic covenant upon himself and thus, ethnically Jewish people are no longer bound to the 613 mitzvot) then I don't see why Rosenzweig would bother describing how good the Jews are at preserving the definitions of (and their adherence to) those 613 mitzvot.
I found these correspondences to be very confusing and disorganized. It was hard to follow a train of thought throughout, because Rosenstock and Rosenzweig almost never responded point-by-point to what the other person was saying.
I understand that these are letters and that they weren't intended to be read by a wider audience. However, there were several instances in which one or the other of these two men expressed that *they themselves* were confused by what the other person had just said / what the core argument was.
There was little discussion about what holiness actually entailed, and almost nothing theological (about whether Jesus was truly the messiah, and whether he was God). Discussion seemed more focused on the *institutions* of The Church and The Synagogue rather than on the ideas behind them.
Despite these lack of fundamental definitions (maybe they defined them in person and didn't see the need to repeat themselves in writing?) Rosenstock-Huessy argued that Christianity was doing a much better job at sanctifying the world than Judaism (which is closed off to outsiders and doesn't seem to invest a lot of energy in Noahidism) and Rosenzweig argued that Judaism's exclusivity was necessary to prevent its orthodoxy from being corrupted by the influence of the world.
But if Rosenstock-Huessy doesn't agree that Judaism's orthodoxy is, in fact, "ortho" (because Rosenstock-Huessy believes that Jesus took the Mosaic covenant upon himself and thus, ethnically Jewish people are no longer bound to the 613 mitzvot) then I don't see why Rosenzweig would bother describing how good the Jews are at preserving the definitions of (and their adherence to) those 613 mitzvot.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews