Description: The second volume of the Cambridge History of Jewish Philosophy provides a comprehensive overview of Jewish philosophy from the seventeenth century to the present day. Written by a distinguished group of experts in the field, its essays examine how Jewish thinking was modified in its encounter with modern Europe and America and challenge longstanding assumptions about the nature and purpose of modern Jewish philosophy. The volume also treats modern Jewish philosophy's continuities with premodern texts and thinkers, the relationship between philosophy and theology, the ritual and political life of the people of Israel, and the ways in which classic modern philosophical categories help or hinder Jewish self-articulation. These essays offer readers a multi-faceted understanding of the Jewish philosophical enterprise in the modern period.
Brief description: Martin Kavka is Associate Professor of Religion at Florida State University. He is the author of Jewish Messianism and the History of Philosophy (2004), which was awarded the Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Philosophy and Jewish Thought by the Association for Jewish Studies in 2008.
Review Quotes: "This erudite and sophisticated collection of essays is thematically organized with a good 52-page bibliography ... This new volume joins other excellent books in the field, very different in organization, content, and method ... this book will be valuable to academicians and others interested in modern Jewish philosophy ... Recommended ..."
D. B. Levy, Choice