Description
Book SynopsisAn inquiry into the meaning of "renaissance" in modern Jewish thought, its place in the philosophical tradition of the West, and its moral possibilities.
Trade Review"In
Inventing New Beginnings: On the Idea of Renaissance in Modern Judaism, Asher Biemann invited his readers to rethink time . . . The book exemplifies the merits of meticulous problematizing without imposing answers. Beginning-anew is also a celebration of heritage, continuity, and seld-ascertainment, which is especially vital for marginalized minorities. Living with a fractured past can obtain a redemptive quality provided that it remains subject to retemporalizations of time rather than (elusive) radical new beginnings." -- Martina Urban *
Journal of the American Academy of Religion *
"This is an ambitious book of immense complexity . . . certainly worthy of critical reflection." -- Michael A. Meyer *
American Historical Review. *
Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments xxx Preamble 1 Part One (Recto) Thinking in Renaissance or A Grammar of Beginnings 1. Beginnings: Thresholds of Continuity 000 2. Beginning Again: The Palingenesis of Memory 000 3. Turning: Transformations into the Open 000 Part Two (Verso) Writing in Resurrection or The Semantics of Restoration 1. The Imperishability of Being: Writing Jewish History in Resurrection 000 2. The Retrieval of Ambivalence: Jewish Renaissance and the (Re-)Turn(-ing) to/of Tradition 000 3. The Unfinishedness of Return: Renaissance and the Re-Aestheticization of Judaism 000 Abbreviations 000 Notes 000 Index 000
