Religio Duplex

Jan Assmann is Professor of Egyptology at the University of Konstanz.

• Foreword viiAbbreviations ixIntroduction 11 Egyptian Foundations: The Dual Meaning of Signs 9Religio Duplex and the Endgame of Egyptian Culture 9Sacramental Interpretation: The Dual Meaning of Signs 14The Two or Three Scripts of the Ancient Egyptian Culture of Writing 202 From the Dual Meaning of Signs to Dual Religion 36Verba Duplicata: Moses Maimonides 36Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Mosaic Laws: John Spencer 39The Platonic Construction of Dual Religion: Ralph Cudworth 433 Religio Duplex and Political Theology 54John Toland and the Critique of Political Theology 54William Warburton and the Redemption of Political Theology 61Secrecy under the Banner of Morality and Politics 734 Religio Duplex and Freemasonry 79Secret Society Novels 79Secrecy under the Banner of Nature and Revelation 87Ignaz von Born and the Vienna Mysteries Project 94Subterranean Egypt 101The Magic Flute: Opera Duplex 1085 In the Era of Globalization: Religio Duplex as Dual Membership 114Globalization, Cosmopolitanism and Cultural Memory 114Moses Mendelssohn and the Idea of a ‘Religion of Mankind’ 127Patriot and Cosmopolitan: Lessing’s ‘Ernst and Falk’, with a Glance at Herder and Wieland 134Homo Duplex 144Prospectus: Religio Duplex Today? 149Retrospectus: Are There ‘Dual Religions’? 157Noah and Moses 158Visible and Invisible Religions 163Notes 175Bibliography 211Index 235

"With his characteristic erudition and lucid prose, Jan Assmann explores a fascinating question: why is religion so often double-layered, with the religion of the philosophers arrayed against the religion of the fathers? His genealogy of religio duplex begins with ancient Egypt and Israel, with their mixtures of universalism and particularism, and extends to the modern search, by Gandhi and others, for a rapprochement between particular religions – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc. – and a universal religion of human dignity. Assmann’s study brims with philosophical acuity, historical depth, and contemporary relevance."Ronald Hendel, University of California, Berkeley "Assmann is well placed to write such a book, and Religio Duplex is an interesting read covering a wide range of topics of various kinds, not least those concerned with belief and with public and private ritual. Students of the Enlightenment and of the nature of religion should read this volume."James Stevens Curl, Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Times Higher Education