Samuel Hirsch

"Rabbi Samuel Hirsch is one of the most important Jewish Reform theologians and philosophers of religion of the first half of the 19th century. To this day, he remains one of the key figures for understanding the debates of the time on questions of Jewish emancipation, the shape of Jewish identity, the compatibility of religion with state and society, the relationship between particularism and universalism as well as the critique of antisemitism. His writings are among the most authoritative of Reform Judaism; his influence on liberal Judaism in Europe and the USA is rivalled only by that of Abraham Geiger. Surprisingly, no detailed monograph or lengthy publication has yet attempted an overall presentation of the multi-layered significance of Samuel Hirsch. It is the aim of the present volume to fill this lacuna."-- Back cover.