Rhetorics of Religion in German, 1900–1950 Conference
Rhetorics of Religion in Germany, 1900–1950
An international interdisciplinary conference organized by Leora Batnitzky, Michael Jennings, and Sarah Pourciau.
This conference examines the role played by religious discourse in German culture in the early twentieth century. This period saw the emergence of a body of religious thought – and reflection on the role of religion in culture – that rivals that of any other period in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Scholars in such diverse fields as intellectual and cultural history, German studies, history of philosophy, and religious studies have in recent years made remarkable advances in our understanding of specific topics and thinkers within this enormously important field, but there have been few attempts to bring together scholars not just across disciplines, but across religions and denominations in order to discuss larger, synthetic issues.
Rhetorics of Religion in Germany, 1900–1950
An Inderdisciplinary Conference
Princeton University
March 31-April 2, 2011
Thursday, March 31
2 PM Welcome: Leora Batnitzky, Michael Jennings, Sarah Pourciau
2:30–5:00 PM Session One
Philosophical Theology
“The Infinitessimal as Theological Principle in Cohen, Rosenzweig, and Barth”
“Reenacting the Philosophical Past: Rosenzweig, Hegel, and Neighbor Love
“Heidegger with and Beyond Paul and Augustine”
5:30–7:00 PM Plenary Talk I
“Inverse versus Dialectical Theology (Adorno, Horkheimer, Barth)”
Friday, April 1
9:30 AM-12 PM Session Two
The Inexpressible in Modernity
“Mysticism and Kulturkritik”
“Mysticism contra Religion”
“A Language of the Border: Scholem’s Notion of Lament”
1:00–3:30 PM Session Three
Towards a Theological Politics
“Destruction, Consolation, and Rebellion in Paul and Jeremiah” (Zweig, Werfel, Buber, Taubes)
“Religion as Social Poliics in Hermann Cohen”
“Rhetoric, Religion, and Political Theology “As If” in Barth”
4:00–6:30 PM Section Four
Religion and the State
“State and Religion: Orthodox Judaism and Neo-Kantianism in Isaac Breuer”
“Nation and Essentialism in Jewish Thought”
“Calvinism and Democratic Legitimacy in Carl J. Friedrich”
8:00 PM Plenary Talk II
“Jürgen Habermas: German Religious Discourse in Retrospect”
Saturday, April 2
9:30 AM-12 PM Session Five
Religion and Aesthetics
“The Aesthetics of Religion in Cohen and Simmel”
“Religion and Filmic Narration”
“Martyrs and Monarchs in Benjamin’s Trauerspiel Book”
1:30–4:00 PM Session Six
The Uses of Rhetoric
“Leo Strauss and Religious Rhetoric”
“Presenting the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain in the Third Reich”
“Ethical Monotheism: Politics, and Theology of a Protestant Concept in 20th Century German-Jewish Discourse”
