"What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Asked by the early Christian Tertullian, the question was vigorously debated in the nineteenth century. While classics dominated the intellectual life of Europe, Christianity still prevailed and conflicts raged between the religious and the secular. Taking on the question of how the glories of the classical world could be reconciled with the Bible,Socrates and the Jewsexplains how Judaism played a vital role in defining modern philhellenism.
Exploring the tension between Hebraism and Hellenism, Miriam Leonard gracefully probes the philosophical tradition behind the development of classical philology and considers how the conflict became a preoccupation for the leading thinkers of modernity, including Matthew Arnold, Moses Mendelssohn, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. For each, she shows how the contrast between classical and biblical traditions is central to writings about rationalism, political subjectivity, and progress. Illustrating how the encounter between Athens and Jerusalem became a lightning rod for intellectual concerns, this book is a sophisticated addition to the history of ideas.
Miriam Leonardis professor of Greek literature and its reception at University College London. She is the author ofAthens in ParisandHow to Read Ancient Philosophy.
List of Figures
Note on Translations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Athens and Jerusalem
1. Socrates and the Reason of Judaism: Moses Mendelssohn and Immanuel Kant
Socrates and the Age of Enlightenment
Mendelssohn’sPhaedo
Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone
Mendelssohn and the French Revolution
2. Noah and Noesis: Greeks, Jews, and the Hegelian Dialectic
Socrates and Christ, Kant and Hegel
Noah and Deucalion
Abraham and the Greek Republics
The Tragedy of Judaism
3. Matthew Arnold in Zion: Hebrews, HelllS'
![Socrates and the Jews: Hellenism and Hebraism from Moses Mendelssohn to Sigmund Freud [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/4/6/0/2_5373060.jpg "Socrates and the Jews: Hellenism and Hebraism from Moses Mendelssohn to Sigmund Freud [Hardcover]")