Between Athens and Jerusalem: Philosophy, Prophecy, and Politics in Leo Strauss's Early ThoughtPraised as a major political thinker of the twentieth century and vilified as the putative godfather of contemporary neoconservatism, Leo Strauss (1899 1973) has been the object of heated controversy both in the United States and abroad. This book offers a more balanced appraisal by focusing on Strauss s early writings. By means of a close and comprehensive study of these texts, David Janssens reconstructs the genesis of Strauss s thought from its earliest beginnings until his emigration to the United States in 1937. He discusses the first stages in Strauss s grappling with the theological-political problem, from his doctoral dissertation on Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi to his contributions to Zionist periodicals, from his groundbreaking study of Spinoza s critique of religion to his research on Moses Mendelssohn, and from his rediscovery of medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy to his research on Hobbes. Throughout, Janssens traces Strauss s rediscovery of the Socratic way of life as a viable alternative to both modern philosophy and revealed religion. |
Contents
In the Grip of the TheologicalPolitical Predicament | 7 |
Emancipation Assimilation and Zionism | 8 |
God and Politics | 11 |
Biblical Politics Biblical Science and the New Theology | 18 |
The Legacy of Spinoza | 26 |
The Shadow of Spinoza | 31 |
Biblical Science and the Critique of Religion | 37 |
Spinozas Twofold Strategy | 42 |
The Order of Human Things | 109 |
The Art of Writing | 123 |
The Debate with Carl Schmitt | 133 |
Socrates and the Leviathan | 149 |
The Right Order of Society | 153 |
Fighting the Kingdom of Darkness | 165 |
Epilogue | 173 |
The Problem of Socrates | 177 |
The Limits of Reason and the Interest in Revelation | 54 |
Like Clay in the Potters Hand | 62 |
The Epicurean Connection | 66 |
Farewell to Spinoza | 71 |
The Second Cave | 77 |
Atheism Intellectual Probity and the Love of Truth | 90 |
The Socratic Question and the Fate of Philosophy | 96 |
Machiavellis Oblivion | 187 |
Natural Right and the Socratic Question | 190 |
From Jerusalem to Athens and Back | 192 |
Notes | 195 |
| 241 | |
| 251 | |
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Between Athens and Jerusalem: Philosophy, Prophecy, and Politics in Leo ... David Janssens No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
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