Jewish Diaspora and the Stakes of Nationalism
Margarete Susman's Theodicy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3594527 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yael Almog (0000-0002-4290-9779, Goethe University Frankfurt, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 103 |
| Publication date | 2019-02-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel10020103 |
| OpenAlex | W2914759875 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
This article unpacks Margarete Susman's political and theological arguments at the core of her reading of the Book of Job. As I show through a reading of her oeuvre, Susman rejects political projects that she takes to be based on eschatology such as political Zionism. However, Susman should not be viewed merely as a critic of Zionism. I argue that an analysis tuned to the historical circumstances of her writing should recognize her stance on the nation-building project in Palestine as ambivalent rather than antagonistic. Susman's conception of the Jewish spirit as rooted in self-sacrifice allows her to appreciate the national aspirations at the core of the Zionist project while rejecting Zionism's exclusion of other Jewish national projects. I contend that Susman's understanding of Jewish messianism as immanent rather than teleological informs her ambivalence toward Zionism as well as her original vision of Jewish political action. I argue in closing that Susman's theodicy offers a novel vision for Jewish ethics that is not limited to the historical moment of its formulation. Susman's theodicy also resonates within contemporary debates on Jewish diaspora in providing a non-centralized vision of Jewish national projects
Judaism · Messianism · Nationalism · Political science · Political theology · Politics · Sociology · Theodicy · Theology · Zionism · Indian History and Philosophy · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Religious studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |