Occidental Eschatology

by Jacob Taubes, David Ratmoko (Translator)

Overview

Occidental Eschatology, originally Jacob Taubes's doctoral thesis and the one book he published in his lifetime, seeks to renegotiate the historical synthesis and spiritual legacy of the West through the study of apocalypticism. Covering the origins of apocalypticism from Hebrew prophecy through antiquity and early Christianity to its medieval revival in Joachim of Fiore, Taubes reveals its later secularized forms in Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Kierkegaard. His aim is to show the lasting influence of revolutionary, messianic teleology on Western philosophy, history, and politics.

Combining painstaking scholarship with an unmatched scope of reference, Taubes takes a comprehensive approach to the twin focuses of political theology and philosophy of history. He argues that acceptance of the idea that time will one day come to an end has profound implications for political thought. If natural time is experienced as an eternal cycle of events, "history" is the realm of time in which human actions can make decisions to alter the progression of events. This philosophy asks that individuals take responsibility for their own actions and resist authority that claims to act on their behalf. Whereas universal history is written by the victors, the messianic or apocalyptic event enters history and gives a voice to the oppressed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804760287
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	12/14/2009
Series:	Cultural Memory in the Present
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

One of the great Jewish intellectuals of the twentieth century, Jacob Taubes (1923–1987) was a rabbi, philosopher of religion, and scholar of Judaism. A charismatic speaker and great polemicist, he is often said to have had his greatest impact as a teacher, but his published oeuvre is increasingly becoming of interest. Stanford published a translation of his Political Theology of Paul in 2004.

Table of Contents

Preface David Ratmoko xi

Book I On the Nature of Eschatology

Elements 3

Freedom and Revolution 9

Spirit and History 11

Israel as the Place of Revolution 15

The Orbit of Apocalypticism 22

The Base Words of Apocalypticism 26

The Apocalyptic View of History 31

Book II The History of Apocalypticism

From Daniel to John 43

The Life of Jesus 47

Paul and the Unraveling of the Ancient World 58

The History of Early Christianity 65

From Augustine to Joachim 77

Book III The Theological Eschatology of Europe

The Law of the Modern Age 85

Joachim's Prophecy and Hegelian Philosophy 90

The Spirituals as Successors to Joachim 98

Thomas Müntzer: The Theology of Revolution 106

The Collapse of Christian Eschatology 118

Book IV The Philosophical Eschatology of Europe

The Structure of Philosophical Eschatology 125

Lessing 131

Kant's Philosophy of Religion 137

Hegel's Dialecric 149

Marx and Kierkegaard 164

Hegel's Legacy 164

Marx and Kierkegaard 168

Self-Alienation 175

The Eschatology of Marx and Kierkegaard 184

Epilogue 191

Notes 195

Bibliography 209

Editorial Reviews

"Taubes's 1947 dissertation Occidental Eschatology—wonderfully translated and introduced by David Ratmoko . . . demonstrate[s] the relevance of intellectual history and continental philosophy to the contemporary understanding of our theo-politicized world. In addition, [it] show[s] why only a Jew, or more—a German-speaking Jew—could stand at the most horrible crossroad of modern civilization shortly after the end of World War II, and teach ancient knowledge and erudition as a way to move forward beyond any simplistic solution or closure, be it nationalism, religious identity, or any social role."—Nitzan Lebovic, H-Judaic

"Occidental Eschatology is not strictly an essay in the history of ideas, even if it advances daring hypotheses about the origins and development of 19th century philosophical thought. Its focus is interpretative more than historical or philological; it is more a contribution towards a new philosophy of history than a reconstruction of the past."—Michael Maidan, Philosophy in Review

From the Publisher

"Taubes's 1947 dissertation Occidental Eschatology—wonderfully translated and introduced by David Ratmoko . . . demonstrate[s] the relevance of intellectual history and continental philosophy to the contemporary understanding of our theo-politicized world. In addition, [it] show[s] why only a Jew, or more—a German-speaking Jew—could stand at the most horrible crossroad of modern civilization shortly after the end of World War II, and teach ancient knowledge and erudition as a way to move forward beyond any simplistic solution or closure, be it nationalism, religious identity, or any social role."

H-Judaic - Nitzan Lebovic

"Occidental Eschatology is not strictly an essay in the history of ideas, even if it advances daring hypotheses about the origins and development of 19th century philosophical thought. Its focus is interpretative more than historical or philological; it is more a contribution towards a new philosophy of history than a reconstruction of the past."

Philosophy in Review - Michael Maidan