Daniel M Herskowitz
Biographic Data
| ID | 1128532 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Daniel M Herskowitz |
| GIVEN NAMES | Daniel M |
| FAMILY NAME | Herskowitz |
| SIGNATURE | HERSKOWITZ D M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oxford |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6333-3684 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
“The Emotive Layer in Jewish‐Christian Relations
Recent trends in scholarship have disclosed and analyzed the role of emotions in historical, political, and cultural processes. This article suggests that approaching Jewish‐Christian relations through this perspective can lead to great insight, taking Jewish attitudes toward Vatican II as its test case. Drawing on much unknown archival material, it argues that while it is common to approach Jewish‐Catholic relations in the Council through the pr…
Dynamic Repetition
Calendar reform and Orthodox activity in the Second Vatican Council
Were Jewish Orthodox leaders involved in the Second Vatican Council (1962-66)? Common knowledge has it that they refused to cooperate with the Church during its deliberations on the drafting of the 'Document on the Jews' - the document that eventually evolved into Nostra Aetate . Some even publicly renounced the Council and criticized Jewish organizations that cooperated with it. However, this article exposes and discusses, on the basis of previo…
Variations on a Theme
This essay surveys a number of prominent, recurring, and new directions in the growing scholarly discourse on the theme “Heidegger and Judaism” arranged under three headings. The first, the contrastive framing, encompasses cases in which the relationship between Heidegger and Judaism is perceived as antithetical. The second, the conjunctive framing, encompasses views claiming the existence of affinities and parallels between Heidegger and Judaism…
Franz Rosenzweig’s Account of Revelation in Light of Its Protestant Background
In the subsection “Grammar of Eros (The Language of Love)” in section 2 of book 2 of The Star of Redemption , the beating heart of the work, Franz Rosenzweig offers a peculiar portrait of the event of revelation. What is presented is a dramatization of the encounter between the loving God and the beloved human soul, a developing scene consisting of a series of utterances and experiences, many of which appear unwarranted. Why does Rosenzweig prese…
Secularization and de-legitimation
This study argues that the bond between 'secularization' and 'de-legitimation' is not only borne out in debates over grand historical narratives relating to the status of modernity, as argued by Hans Blumenberg, but in debates over the appraisal of specific modern philosophical programs as well.It does this by examining how the category of 'secularization' is used to delegitimize Martin Heidegger's thought, from both theological and secular persp…
Martin Buber's Two Types of Faith in Its Protestant Context
This essay explores the fraught relationship between Martin Buber and Christian thought by critically analyzing and historically contextualizing his Two Types of Faith (1950). In this work Buber applies the distinction he puts forth between faith as relational trust (“faith in”) and faith as intellectual ascent to propositional truth (“faith that”) onto the early Israelite and Christian communities of faith. He also uses this distinction to criti…
Between Barth and Heidegger
This article offers a critical examination of the role of Martin Heideggers philosophy in Michael Wyschogrods most important work, Body of Faith: God in the People Israel, and explores its intersection with this works more acknowledged debt to Karl Barths theology. It explores the uses of these two key intellectual sources for Body of Faith and reflects on how this illuminates some of the basic assumptions, motivations and also shortcomings of Wy…
Empire, Mission, and Messianism
This study contributes to contemporary discussions about the entanglement, cross-fertilization, and co-implicatedness of religion and empire by adding a voice from the still underexamined field of Jewish thought. It claims that the European imperial project is inherent to the vision of Judaism, Jewish-Christian relations, and global redemption offered in Franz Rosenzweig’s The Star of Redemption, and that its proper conceptual background is the f…
Reading Heidegger against the Grain
This article argues that the link Hans Jonas drew between Martin Heidegger's philosophy and Gnosticism cannot be properly understood without taking into consideration his philosophical interpretation of modern science. It claims that Jonas saw Heideggerian existentialism not as a modern instantiation of Gnosticism but as a specific experiential reaction to the new cosmological outlook that emerged from the seventeenth-century scientific revolutio…
The Call
The importance of Martin Heidegger’s philosophy to Leo Strauss’s intellectual development is well established.1 Indeed, Strauss was open about the unparalleled influence Heidegger exerted over him. In one lecture Strauss proclaimed that “the only question of importance . . . is the question whether Heidegger’s teaching is true or not.”2 It is also widely acknowledged that Heidegger, the “radical historicist” and philosophical collaborator with th…
Karl Löwith's Secularization Thesis and the Jewish Reception of Heidegger
This article argues that Karl Löwith's thesis of secularization-in brief, that while modern philosophical notions present themselves as secular, they are in fact secularized, that is, they preserve features of the theological background they repress and remain determined by it-can serve as a productive hermeneutical key for framing and understanding an important strand in the twentieth century Jewish response to Heidegger's philosophy. It takes E…
The Husserl-Heidegger Relationship in the Jewish Imagination
This essay examines ways in which the troubled personal and philosophical relationship between the philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger was imagined, retold, and deployed in Jewish contexts. Focusing on the typological structures animating its reception, it argues that different narratives and ideological commitments concerning Judaism and Jewishness are absorbed in retellings of the Husserl-Heidegger episode. As such, these retelling…
Objections and Opportunities
Being-towards-Eternity
In his writings, Rabbi Isaac Hutner integrated various insights from secular philosophy and particularly from existentialist thought. Concerns regarding temporality, authenticity, and death permeate his thought. This article deals with what we call “being-towards-eternity,” a modification of Martin Heidegger’s “being-towards-death,” through which Hutner seeks to reconcile genuine anxiety in the face of finitude with an unwavering belief in resurr…
God, Being, Pathos
Martin Heidegger’s philosophy has elicited many theological responses; some enthusiastic, others critical. In this essay I provide an organized and critical analysis of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s theological critique of and rejoinder to the thought of the German philosopher. By looking at Heschel’s 1965 Who is Man? as well as earlier and later texts, I demonstrate the way in which Heschel presents his biblical theology as an alternative to Heidegge…
Heidegger in Hebrew
This article deals with the largely neglected topic of Martin Heidegger's Jewish reception by examining the translation of The Origin of the Work of Art into Hebrew by Shlomo Zemach in 1968. The various challenges confronting the coming-into-being of this translation are outlined by drawing on previously unknown archival material, including correspondence between Zemach and Vittorio Klostermann (Heidegger's German publisher), as well as between Z…
An Impossible Possibility? Jewish Barthianism in Interwar Germany
In this essay I examine the Jewish reception of Karl Barth's theology in Germany of the 1930s. This I do through an analysis of a disputed exploration into the possibilities and limitations of the theological principles of dialectical theology for the formulation of a Jewish theology that took place at the time. The publication of Karl Barth's Römerbrief (1919, 1922) generated a great stir among Christian circles in Germany. Profoundly challengin…
Franz Rosenzweig and Karl Barth
The aim of this article is to gain a better understanding of the way in which Jews understood and reacted to dialectical theology, already in the 1920s and 1930s in Weimar Germany, by approaching the instance of the frequent conjunction of Franz Rosenzweig with Karl Barth.1 By examining the manner in which Rosenzweig was understood and situated vis-à-vis Barth in the immediate period after the publication of their respective notable works, Der St…
The Moment and the Future
This article addresses the philosophical sources of Soloveitchik's unique account of time and repentance as presented particularly in the second part of Halakhic Man . In the past, thinkers such as Max Scheler, Hermann Cohen, and Henri Bergson have been suggested as sources of influence on Soloveitchik on this account. While the influence of these thinkers is undeniable, a fuller appreciation of the philosophical layers at play is still required.…
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's Endorsement and Critique of Volkish Thought
In this article I trace and examine volkish elements in Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's thought. My claim is that Soloveitchik is influenced by different notions of volkish ideology which are applied to the Jewish volk. These notions enrich his thought and provide a language to articulate different ideas concerning Jewish peoplehood in modernity. Yet Soloveitchik was also critical of the ethical problems volkish ideology engenders-a critique that …
Reading Heidegger against the Grain
This article argues that the link Hans Jonas drew between Martin Heidegger's philosophy and Gnosticism cannot be properly understood without taking into consideration his philosophical interpretation of modern science. It claims that Jonas saw Heideggerian existentialism not as a modern instantiation of Gnosticism but as a specific experiential reaction to the new cosmological outlook that emerged from the seventeenth-century scientific revolutio…
The Call
The importance of Martin Heidegger’s philosophy to Leo Strauss’s intellectual development is well established.1 Indeed, Strauss was open about the unparalleled influence Heidegger exerted over him. In one lecture Strauss proclaimed that “the only question of importance . . . is the question whether Heidegger’s teaching is true or not.”2 It is also widely acknowledged that Heidegger, the “radical historicist” and philosophical collaborator with th…
The Husserl-Heidegger Relationship in the Jewish Imagination
This essay examines ways in which the troubled personal and philosophical relationship between the philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger was imagined, retold, and deployed in Jewish contexts. Focusing on the typological structures animating its reception, it argues that different narratives and ideological commitments concerning Judaism and Jewishness are absorbed in retellings of the Husserl-Heidegger episode. As such, these retelling…
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's Endorsement and Critique of Volkish Thought
In this article I trace and examine volkish elements in Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's thought. My claim is that Soloveitchik is influenced by different notions of volkish ideology which are applied to the Jewish volk. These notions enrich his thought and provide a language to articulate different ideas concerning Jewish peoplehood in modernity. Yet Soloveitchik was also critical of the ethical problems volkish ideology engenders-a critique that …
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's Endorsement and Critique of Volkish Thought
In this article I trace and examine volkish elements in Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's thought. My claim is that Soloveitchik is influenced by different notions of volkish ideology which are applied to the Jewish volk. These notions enrich his thought and provide a language to articulate different ideas concerning Jewish peoplehood in modernity. Yet Soloveitchik was also critical of the ethical problems volkish ideology engenders-a critique that …
The Moment and the Future
This article addresses the philosophical sources of Soloveitchik's unique account of time and repentance as presented particularly in the second part of Halakhic Man . In the past, thinkers such as Max Scheler, Hermann Cohen, and Henri Bergson have been suggested as sources of influence on Soloveitchik on this account. While the influence of these thinkers is undeniable, a fuller appreciation of the philosophical layers at play is still required.…
An Impossible Possibility? Jewish Barthianism in Interwar Germany
In this essay I examine the Jewish reception of Karl Barth's theology in Germany of the 1930s. This I do through an analysis of a disputed exploration into the possibilities and limitations of the theological principles of dialectical theology for the formulation of a Jewish theology that took place at the time. The publication of Karl Barth's Römerbrief (1919, 1922) generated a great stir among Christian circles in Germany. Profoundly challengin…
Franz Rosenzweig and Karl Barth
The aim of this article is to gain a better understanding of the way in which Jews understood and reacted to dialectical theology, already in the 1920s and 1930s in Weimar Germany, by approaching the instance of the frequent conjunction of Franz Rosenzweig with Karl Barth.1 By examining the manner in which Rosenzweig was understood and situated vis-à-vis Barth in the immediate period after the publication of their respective notable works, Der St…
Being-towards-Eternity
In his writings, Rabbi Isaac Hutner integrated various insights from secular philosophy and particularly from existentialist thought. Concerns regarding temporality, authenticity, and death permeate his thought. This article deals with what we call “being-towards-eternity,” a modification of Martin Heidegger’s “being-towards-death,” through which Hutner seeks to reconcile genuine anxiety in the face of finitude with an unwavering belief in resurr…
God, Being, Pathos
Martin Heidegger’s philosophy has elicited many theological responses; some enthusiastic, others critical. In this essay I provide an organized and critical analysis of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s theological critique of and rejoinder to the thought of the German philosopher. By looking at Heschel’s 1965 Who is Man? as well as earlier and later texts, I demonstrate the way in which Heschel presents his biblical theology as an alternative to Heidegge…
Heidegger in Hebrew
This article deals with the largely neglected topic of Martin Heidegger's Jewish reception by examining the translation of The Origin of the Work of Art into Hebrew by Shlomo Zemach in 1968. The various challenges confronting the coming-into-being of this translation are outlined by drawing on previously unknown archival material, including correspondence between Zemach and Vittorio Klostermann (Heidegger's German publisher), as well as between Z…
Objections and Opportunities
The Husserl-Heidegger Relationship in the Jewish Imagination
This essay examines ways in which the troubled personal and philosophical relationship between the philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger was imagined, retold, and deployed in Jewish contexts. Focusing on the typological structures animating its reception, it argues that different narratives and ideological commitments concerning Judaism and Jewishness are absorbed in retellings of the Husserl-Heidegger episode. As such, these retelling…
Reading Heidegger against the Grain
This article argues that the link Hans Jonas drew between Martin Heidegger's philosophy and Gnosticism cannot be properly understood without taking into consideration his philosophical interpretation of modern science. It claims that Jonas saw Heideggerian existentialism not as a modern instantiation of Gnosticism but as a specific experiential reaction to the new cosmological outlook that emerged from the seventeenth-century scientific revolutio…
The Call
The importance of Martin Heidegger’s philosophy to Leo Strauss’s intellectual development is well established.1 Indeed, Strauss was open about the unparalleled influence Heidegger exerted over him. In one lecture Strauss proclaimed that “the only question of importance . . . is the question whether Heidegger’s teaching is true or not.”2 It is also widely acknowledged that Heidegger, the “radical historicist” and philosophical collaborator with th…
Karl Löwith's Secularization Thesis and the Jewish Reception of Heidegger
This article argues that Karl Löwith's thesis of secularization-in brief, that while modern philosophical notions present themselves as secular, they are in fact secularized, that is, they preserve features of the theological background they repress and remain determined by it-can serve as a productive hermeneutical key for framing and understanding an important strand in the twentieth century Jewish response to Heidegger's philosophy. It takes E…
Between Barth and Heidegger
This article offers a critical examination of the role of Martin Heideggers philosophy in Michael Wyschogrods most important work, Body of Faith: God in the People Israel, and explores its intersection with this works more acknowledged debt to Karl Barths theology. It explores the uses of these two key intellectual sources for Body of Faith and reflects on how this illuminates some of the basic assumptions, motivations and also shortcomings of Wy…
Empire, Mission, and Messianism
This study contributes to contemporary discussions about the entanglement, cross-fertilization, and co-implicatedness of religion and empire by adding a voice from the still underexamined field of Jewish thought. It claims that the European imperial project is inherent to the vision of Judaism, Jewish-Christian relations, and global redemption offered in Franz Rosenzweig’s The Star of Redemption, and that its proper conceptual background is the f…
Variations on a Theme
This essay surveys a number of prominent, recurring, and new directions in the growing scholarly discourse on the theme “Heidegger and Judaism” arranged under three headings. The first, the contrastive framing, encompasses cases in which the relationship between Heidegger and Judaism is perceived as antithetical. The second, the conjunctive framing, encompasses views claiming the existence of affinities and parallels between Heidegger and Judaism…
Franz Rosenzweig’s Account of Revelation in Light of Its Protestant Background
In the subsection “Grammar of Eros (The Language of Love)” in section 2 of book 2 of The Star of Redemption , the beating heart of the work, Franz Rosenzweig offers a peculiar portrait of the event of revelation. What is presented is a dramatization of the encounter between the loving God and the beloved human soul, a developing scene consisting of a series of utterances and experiences, many of which appear unwarranted. Why does Rosenzweig prese…
Secularization and de-legitimation
This study argues that the bond between 'secularization' and 'de-legitimation' is not only borne out in debates over grand historical narratives relating to the status of modernity, as argued by Hans Blumenberg, but in debates over the appraisal of specific modern philosophical programs as well.It does this by examining how the category of 'secularization' is used to delegitimize Martin Heidegger's thought, from both theological and secular persp…
Martin Buber's Two Types of Faith in Its Protestant Context
This essay explores the fraught relationship between Martin Buber and Christian thought by critically analyzing and historically contextualizing his Two Types of Faith (1950). In this work Buber applies the distinction he puts forth between faith as relational trust (“faith in”) and faith as intellectual ascent to propositional truth (“faith that”) onto the early Israelite and Christian communities of faith. He also uses this distinction to criti…
Dynamic Repetition
Calendar reform and Orthodox activity in the Second Vatican Council
Were Jewish Orthodox leaders involved in the Second Vatican Council (1962-66)? Common knowledge has it that they refused to cooperate with the Church during its deliberations on the drafting of the 'Document on the Jews' - the document that eventually evolved into Nostra Aetate . Some even publicly renounced the Council and criticized Jewish organizations that cooperated with it. However, this article exposes and discusses, on the basis of previo…
“The Emotive Layer in Jewish‐Christian Relations
Recent trends in scholarship have disclosed and analyzed the role of emotions in historical, political, and cultural processes. This article suggests that approaching Jewish‐Christian relations through this perspective can lead to great insight, taking Jewish attitudes toward Vatican II as its test case. Drawing on much unknown archival material, it argues that while it is common to approach Jewish‐Catholic relations in the Council through the pr…
Philosophy (20 works) · Theology (20 works) · Judaism (12 works) · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism (12 works) · Religious studies (11 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · History (7 works) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Political science (7 works)