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This translation of eighteen virtually unknown early publications provides access for the first time to the origins of Leo Strauss’s thought in the intellectual life of the German Jewish ’renaissance’ in the 1920s. Themes range from the Enlightenment critique of the religion of Spinoza and the anti-critique of Jacobi, to the political Zionism of Herzl and the cultural Zionism of Buber and Ahad Ha’am. The essays and reviews reprinted in this volume document a youth caught in the “theological-political” conflict between the irretrievability of premodern religion and the disenchantedness of “honest” atheism, an impossible alternative that precipitated Strauss to seek out the possibility of a return to the level of natural ignorance presupposed in Socratic political philosophy.
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S U N Y series in the J e w i s h Writings o f L e o Strauss K e n n e t h Hart G r e e n , Editor Leo Strauss The Early Writings (1921-1932) translated and edited by Michael Zank State University of New York Press Published by State University of N e w York Press © 2002 State University of N e w York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America N o part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. N o part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address the State University of N e w York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207 Marketing by Patrick Durocher • Production by Diane Ganeles Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Strauss, Leo. [Selections. 2002] Leo Strauss : the early writings, 1921-1932 / Leo Strauss ; translated and edited by Michael Zank. p. cm. — (SUNY series in the Jewish writings of Strauss) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5329-4 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5330-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Philosophy, Jewish. 2. Zionism. 3. Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677—Views on Biblical interpretation. 4. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Zank, Michael. II. Title. III. Series BM755.S75 A25 2002 181'.06—dc21 2002017627 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Sarah July 31, Shenitzer 1929 - March 9, in memoriam 2002 Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments Abbreviations xvii xix Parti Introduction «§> — A G e r m a n J e w i s h Y o u t h 3 • " C h a n g e in O r i e n t a t i o n " 12 • Political Existence a n d R e l i g i o n 18 • B e y o n d Atheism and O r t h o d o x y 2 3 • T h e Virtue of M o d e s t y 3 3 Part II L e o Strauss: Early Publications (1921-32) I. The Dissertation (1921) 53 T h e P r o b l e m of K n o w l e d g e in t h e Philosophical D o c t r i n e of Friedrich H e i n r i c h Jacobi II. Zionist Writings (1923-25) 53 63 R e s p o n s e to Frankfurt's " W o r d o f Principle" The Holy 75 64 A N o t e o n t h e Discussion o f " Z i o n i s m a n d A n t i - S e m i t i s m " T h e Z i o n i s m of N o r d a u 83 Paul d e Lagarde 90 vii Contents viii Sociological Historiography? 101 R e v i e w o f Albert Levkowitz, Contemporary Religious Thinkers O n t h e A r g u m e n t w i t h E u r o p e a n Science C o m m e n t on Weinberg's Critique Ecclesia militans 107 118 124 Biblical History and Science I I I . Historical-Philological 130 Writin