Description
Book SynopsisExamines the historical, cultural, and religious context of the life and work of German Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892-1940).
Trade Review“What this book adds to the vast literature on Benjamin is more than a tremendously learned and carefully crafted examination of contexts and intersecting dynamics of religion, culture, and politics that influence him. . . . Zooming in on continuing forms of religiosity usually obscured by the dominant narrative of secularization, Britt provides an original perspective—and undertakes a rescue project in its own right.”
—Doris McGonagill Studies in Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century Literature
“An excellent sourcebook for students and readers of Benjamin coming at his life and writing for the first time. Almost every source that could be called ‘religious’ or ‘religion’ in circles close to him, circles he may have crossed, and circles far from him is given a nod.”
—Paul North,author of The Yield: Kafka’s Atheological Reformation
“This book is an excellent case study for the fate of modern religion at the crossroad of social practice and personal experience. Depicting the rich and diverse religious landscape it reveals new perspectives on an epoch that is still central for our critical thought. It stresses the importance of religion for intellectual history, in particular of those small religious practices that Britt's careful reconstructions bring back to life.”
—Daniel Weidner,author of Bibel und Literatur um 1800
“Britt’s book elegantly navigates the different expressions of religion that surrounded Benjamin’s writing and life. This rigorous work manages to bring together his engagement with religious ideas, metaphors, practices and influences, shedding new light on some of Benjamin’s most renowned ideas. Going both with and against Benjamin, Britt draws a compelling and illuminating account.”
—Ilit Ferber,author of Philosophy and Melancholy: Benjamin's Early Reflections on Theater and Language
