Moses Mendelssohn

by Gottlieb, Michah; Bowman, Chris; Sacks, Elias; Arkush, Allan

• ISBN13: 9781584656845
• ISBN10: 1584656840
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-11
• Publisher: Brandeis Univ

Summary

German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) is best known in the English-speaking world for his Jerusalem (1783), the first attempt to present Judaism as a religion compatible with the ideas of the Enlightenment. While incorporating much of Jerusalem, Michah Gottlieb's volume seeks to expand knowledge of Mendelssohn's thought by presenting translations of many of his other seminal writings from the German or Hebrew originals. These writings include essays, commentaries, unpublished reflections, and personal letters. Part One includes selections from the three major controversies of Mendelssohn's life, all of which involved polemical encounters with Christian thinkers. Part Two presents selections from Mendelssohn's writings on the Bible. Part Three offers texts that illuminate Mendelssohn's thoughts on a diverse range of religious topics, including God's existence, the immortality of the soul, and miracles. Designed for class adoption, the volume contains annotations and an introduction by the editor.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction: Moses Mendelssohn and the Project of Modern Jewish Philosophy

Polemical Writings

The Lavater Affair and Related Documents (1769-1773)

Lavater's Dedication

Open Letter to Lavater

From "Counter-Reflections to Bonnet's Palingenesis"

Letter to Rabbi Jacob Emden, 26 October 1773

Letter to "a Man of Rank" (Rochus Friedrich Graf von Lynar)

Jerusalem and Related Documents (1782-1783)

From the Preface to Vindiciae Judaeorum

"The Search for Light and Right"

Moerschel's Postscript

From Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism

From Letter to Naphtali Herz Homberg

The Pantheism Controversy (1785-1786)

From Jacobi's On the Doctrine of Spinoza

From Morning Hours

From To Lessing's Friends

Writings on the Bible

From Introduction to Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Introduction to Translation of Psalms

From Letter to August Hennings, 29 June 1779

From Light for the Path

Selections from the Bi'ur

On Peshat and Derash

Lex Talionis

On Adam's Sin

On Biblical Poetry

The Eternal

On Commanding Belief in God, Jewish Election, and Idolatry

On Divine Jealousy

On Kingship

Miscellany

On the Religious Legitimacy of Studying Logic

An Ontological Proof for God's Existence

A Cosmological Proof for God's Existence

A Proof for the Immortality of the Soul

A Rational Foundation for Ethics

On the Possibility of Miracles

On the Reliability of Miracles

Suggestions for Further Reading

Index

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