Encounters of Consequence

Michael Oppenheim (Ph.D. University of California - Santa Barbara) is Professor in the Department of Religion at Concordia University in Montreal. He is the author of Jewish Philosophy and Psychoanalysis: Narrating the Interhuman (2006). He has published books and articles in the areas of modern Jewish philosophy, Judaism in the modern period, philosophy of religion and psychology of religion.

• Preface. I. Challenges and Responses. 1. Some Underlying Issues of Modern Jewish Philosophy. 2. Does Judaism Have Universal Significance? II. Philosophers of Encounter. Franz Rosenzweig. 3. Death and the Fear of Death in Franz Rosenzweig’s The Star of Redemption. 4. The Halevi Book. 5. Into Life: Rosenzweig’s Essays on God, Man and the World. Martin Buber 6. The Meaning of Hasidism: Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem. 7. Autobiography and the Becoming of the Self: Martin Buber and Joseph Campbell. Emmanuel Levinas. 8. Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas: A Midrash or Thought-Experiment. 9. Welcoming the Other: The Philosophical Foundation for Pluralism in the Works of Charles Davis and Emmanuel Levinas. III. Jewish Philosophers in the Late Twentieth Century. 10. Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Soren Kierkegaard: Reflections on “The Lonely Man of Faith”. 11. Eliezer Schweid: The First Israeli Philosopher. 12. Can We Still Stay With Him?: Two Jewish Theologians Confront the Holocaust (Emil Fackenheim and Arthur Cohen). 13. Theology and Community: The Work of Emil Fackenheim. 14. Irving Greenberg: A Jewish Dialectic of Hope. 15. Feminist Jewish Philosophy: A Response. Bibliography.

“This book of essays is in Michael Oppenheim’s distinctive voice—intelligent, insightful, and sensitive to all the important issues. Always informed and thoughtful, Oppenheim brings out the best in his subjects. In his criticism, he always seeks to illuminate rather than score points, and in dealing with some of the significant thinkers of our time he makes a valuable and important contribution to all who are interested in modern Jewish thought."