|
|
Article: Mendelssohn's religious perspective of non-Jews.(Report)
- Article from:
- Journal of Ecumenical Studies
- Article date:
- June 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Journal of Ecumenical Studies. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Introduction
The eighteenth century saw the emergence of the Maskil, the Enlightened Jew. With the invention of a universal German culture rooted in rationality and morality, the Jew and gentile began to interact on neutral terrain to promote common interests such as the cultivation of culture (Bildung) and self-improvement. Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86, dubbed "the first modern Jew," shared the universalistic outlook of the new dominant rational culture and was the leading Jewish participant in the developing neutral society. At one and the same time an observant Jew and a respected German philosopher, Mendelssohn asserted that Judaism and universal Enlightenment ...