After Enlightenment The Post-Secular Vision of J. G. Hamann

by Betz, John R.

• ISBN13: 9781405162463
• ISBN10: 1405162465
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-03
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

After Enlightenment: The Post-Secular Vision of J. G. Hamann is a comprehensive introduction to the life and works of 18th-century German philosopher, J. G. Hamann, the founding father of what has come to be known as Radical Orthodoxy. Provides a long-overdue, comprehensive introduction to Haman's fascinating life and controversial works, including his role as a friend and critic of Kant and some of the most renowned German intellectuals of the age Features substantial new translations of the most important passages from across Hamann's writings, some of which have never been translated into English Examines Hamann's highly original views on a range of topics, including faith, reason, revelation, Christianity, biblical exegesis, Socrates, theological aesthetics, language, sexuality, religion, politics, and the relationship between Judaism and Christianity Presents Hamann as the 'founding father' of a distinctly post-modern, post-secular theology and, as such, as an alternative to the 'postmodern triumvirate' of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida Considers Hamann's work as a touchtone of modern Jewish-Christian dialogue, in view of debates with his friend Moses Mendelssohn Explores Hamann's role as the visionary founder of a 'metacritical' movement that radically calls into question the basic principles of modern secular reason, and thus reprises the debate between those defending Hamann's views and those labeling him the bête noir of the Enlightenment

Author Biography

John R. Betz is Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola College, Maryland. He has published several articles on Hamann, including Hamann’s London Writings and Hamann’s significance to Kierkegaard.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
The Making of a Christian Socrates
Life and Writings	p. 1730-1788
The Making of a Philologist
Hamann's Conversion
Hamann's Falling Out with Berens
Hamann's Relationship with Kant
The London Writings: On the Glory of Trinitarian Condescension
Night Thoughts: On the Interpretation of Scripture
Glory in the "Rags" of Scripture
Biblical Meditations
"Reflections on church hymns"
"Fragments" and "Prophecies"
A Typological Re-reading of Socrates: On Faith, Reason, and History
The Prophet and the Idol
From Socratic Irony to Christian Humor
Toward a Philosophy of History
A Propaedeutic to Real Enlightenment
Converting Hume: Knowledge "By Faith Alone"
Kant, Hamann, and the So-called "Kinderphysik Fiasco"
Crusades of the Philologist
Life and Writings	p. 1760-1774
Against the Purification of Language
The Magi and "The Knight of Faith"
Crusades of the Philologist
On "Solomon of Prussia" and High School Drama
The Hamann-Herder Connection
A Satirical Masterpiece and Other Writings
Toward a Christological Poetics: A New Aesthetics of Scripture and Creation
Cloverleaf of Hellenistic Letters: On the Style of Scripture
Aesthetica in nuce: On the Language of Creation
The Dithyrambs of a Christian Dionysus
Seeing All Things in Christ
Toward a Christological Poetics
Correcting a Disciple: Hamann and Herder on the Origin of Language
Hamann's Review of Herder's Preisschrift
The Return of Aristobulus
Philological Ideas and Doubts
The Crusading Knight's Last Will and Testament
The Mystery of Language: The Alpha and Omega
Masks and Mystery Writings
Life and Writings	p. 1775-1780
Hierophantic Letters
Family Life: Portrait of a Christian Sensualist
Two Mites: On the Tabernacle of Language
The Sibyl Speaks: On the Protological and Eschatological Mystery of Marriage
The Mystery of Marriage: A verum signaculum Creatoris
Essay of a Sibyl on Marriage
"Aprons of fig leaves": On Reason's Inveterate Shame
Fragments of an Apocryphal Sibyl: On Rational and Apocalyptic Religion
Doubts (about Reason) and Ideas (about the Mystical Body of Christ)
Konxompax: An Apocryphal Letter to Lessing
Metacritique of Reason, Natural Religion, and Secular Politics
Life and Writings	p. 1780-1784
Hamann's "Twins" of 1784
Hamann and Jacobi
Divestment and Transfiguration
"Metacritical tubs"?
Hamann's Metacritique of Kant: Deconstructing the Transcendental Dream
Transcendental "Mystique": The First Review of the Critique of Pure Reason
The Metacritique: A Brief History of the Purisms of Reason
The "Genealogical Priority" of Language
Language as a Sacrament
Metacritical Politics: On Mendelssohn's Jerusalem and the Modern Secular State
A Synopsis of Mendelssohn's Jerusalem
Golgotha and Schleblimini: By a Preacher in the Desert
Built upon Sand: The Babel of Mod
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