Emil L. Fackenheim: Philosopher, Theologian, Jew

Sharon Portnoff, James Arthur Diamond, Martin D. Yaffe

BRILL, 2008 - Religion - 339 pages

"Emil L. Fackenheim: Philosopher, Theologian, Jew" is a scholarly tribute to Fackenheim's memory. Fackenheim's combination of erudition and generosity served to inspire a lifetime of philosophical inquiry, and a number of his students are represented in this volume. The volume, in order to provide a forum through which to introduce his thought to a broader audience, covers a wide spectrum of Fackenheim's work including biographical, philosophical, and theological aspects of his thought that have not been addressed adequately in the past. Elie Wiesel, a close personal friend to Fackenheim for over 30 years, has provided the Foreword for the volume.

Contents

• Introductory Remarks Sharon Portnoff: 1
• PART ONE FACKENHEIM THEN AND NOW: 15
• Fackenheim in the Fifties John Burbidge: 17
• Between Halle and Jerusalem Michael Oppenheim: 25
• Fackenheims Hermeneutical Circle Michael L Morgan: 43
• Thought Going to School with Life? Fackenheims Last Philosophical Testament Benjamin Pollock: 55
• Some Personal Refl ections Martin J Plax: 89
• PART TWO THE PHILOSOPHICAL DIMENSION OF FACKENHEIMS THOUGHT: 105
• Historicism and Revelation in Emil Fackenheims SelfDistancing from Leo Strauss Martin D Yaffe: 107
• Heidegger Radical Historicism and Diabolical Evil Kenneth Hart Green: 125
• Fackenheims Hegelian Return to Contingency Sharon Portnoff: 161
• Emil Fackenheim and the Problem of Dirty Hands Sam Ajzenstat: 179
• A Time for Emil Fackenheim A Time for Baruch Spinoza Heidi Morrison Ravven: 211
• PART THREE THE RELIGIOUS DIMENSION OF FACKENHEIMS THOUGHT: 219
• Rabbi Fackenheim and Philosophical Encounter with Elijahs Wager James A Diamond: 221
• Tikkun in Fackenheims LebenDenken as a Trace of Lurianic Kabbalah Aubrey L Glazer: 235
• Refl ections on Fackenheims 614th Commandment Lionel Rubinoff: 251
• Emil Fackenheim and the Levitical Order of Thinking Michael Kigel: 295
• Bibliography: 323
• Contributors: 331
• Name Index: 335
• Subject Index: 337

About the author

Sharon Portnoff, Ph.D. (2005) in Jewish Philosophy, Jewish Theological Seminary, is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Pomona College. She has delivered papers on Primo Levi, Dante, Louis Zukofsky and Emil L. Fackenheim, and her poems have appeared in Midstream and Chants. She is currently working on a book, tentatively titled The Interface of Fiction and Reality: Primo Levi's Use of Dante's Inferno in Se questo è un uomo.
James A. Diamond, Ph.D. (1999) in Philosophy, University of Toronto, LL.M. (1979), New York University School of Law, is the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies and Director of the Friedberg Genizah Project, at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. His publications include Maimonides and the Hermeneutics of Concealment, (winner of Canadian Jewish Book Award, 2002), Converts, Heretics and Lepers: Maimonides and the Outsider, and articles in such journals as AJS Review, Jewish History, Jewish Quarterly Review, Jewish Studies Quarterly, The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy and Theology, Philosophy and Literature and Vetus Testamentum.
Martin D. Yaffe, Ph.D. (1968) in Philosophy, Claremont Graduate University, is Professor of Philosophy and Religion Studies at University of North Texas. He is the author of Shylock and the Jewish Question and Judaism and Environmental Ethics: A Reader, co-translator of Aquinas' Literal Exposition on the Book of Job and translator of Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, the philosophical founding-document of both modern biblical criticism and modern liberal democracy. He is currently completing a translation from the German of Leo Strauss's essays on Moses Mendelssohn, originally contained in the Jubilee Edition of Mendelssohn's works (1929ff.), of which Strauss was a co-editor.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Emil L. Fackenheim: Philosopher, Theologian, Jew; Volume 5 of Supplements to the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy; Volume 5 of The Journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
• Editors: Sharon Portnoff, James Arthur Diamond, Martin D. Yaffe
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: BRILL, 2008
• ISBN: 9004157670, 9789004157675
• Length: 339 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Eastern; Religion / Judaism / General