Outline of the overall science of Judaism

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The outline of the overall science of Judaism was an encyclopaedic project of the Society for the Advancement of the Science of Judaism and appeared from 1906 to 1935 as part of its series of publications.

Edition plan

The book series was the most demanding and complex scientific project realized by the Society for the Promotion of the Science of Judaism, founded in 1902 by Martin Philippson , Jakob Guttmann and Leopold Lucas . This goal served the publication of scientific writings, the granting of scholarships and the "creation and subvenzionierung [sic] of chairs at Jewish higher scientific educational institutions". Since 1903, the society also ensured the financial basis for the monthly for the history and science of Judaism .

At the general assembly on April 21, 1903, at the suggestion of Gustav Karpeles, the resolution was passed to “ publish a plan of the science of Judaism, which should include the entire field of this science in individual representations”. At the same time, the results of almost a century of scientific research into Jewish culture, piety and history should be bundled in a thematically structured collection of monographs.

The committee that worked out the details of the edition plan included the orientalist and literary historian Wilhelm Bacher and the Marburg philosopher Hermann Cohen , as well as the rabbis Moritz Güdemann , Philipp Bloch and Theodor Kroner (1845–1923; he had the official title “Oberkirchenrat ”), Leopold Lucas and Karpeles themselves. A first thematic overview published in the monthly announced that it had been agreed to“ initially set the number of monographs at 36, but supplementary volumes are expressly provided ”. The volumes should focus less on the completeness of “the subject matter offered” and more on its “intellectual penetration”. The aim was "a coherent and comprehensively ordered presentation which, despite the strictly scientific basis, could at the same time acquire the interest of the educated and educate them".

The 1903 edition plan provided for three sections. The first thematic area encompassed the systematic-religious-philosophical dimension of Judaism including the history of religion, the second the linguistic and literary history and the third the less precisely defined area of ​​realities, which included geography and numismatics as well as “the history of the Jews”. The appearance of two volumes was expected within a year (actually 1906 and 1907), "and the appearance of several volumes is also certain for the following years." This statement was based on the fact that contracts had been concluded with all authors on October 31, 1904 which contained precise provisions on the time of submission of the manuscript.

Beyond the scientific-critical self-image associated with the programmatic key term “ Science of Judaism ”, the authors were not obliged to any content-related specifications; rather, they could make their contribution in “complete freedom”. This fact was emphasized once again by the following note on the title page of the first published volume: "The Society for the Promotion of the Science of Judaism leaves the authors responsible for the scientific facts and views contained in their works."

execution

The implementation turned out to be much more difficult than expected. Not only external factors played a role; Problems also arose with the thematic design and recruiting. A total of ten volumes were published by 1935, some of them with several sub-volumes. The works go far beyond a representation of the state of research. All of them are independent scientific contributions. The authors include leading representatives of contemporary Judaism , including Cohen, Ismar Elbogen , Kaufmann Kohler and Samuel Krauss . His “Talmudic Archeology”, Elbogen's history of worship and cult (initially announced as “Liturgy”) or Güdemann's “Jewish Apologetics” were groundbreaking works, as were Cohen's philosophy of religion and Albert Lewkowitz 's intellectual history of Judaism. Caro's contribution is the first to summarize the social and economic history of the Jews. The author closely follows the methodology and implementation of Adolf Harnack and Ernst Troeltsch's studies on the social history of early Christianity. In general, the orientation of the “floor plan” concept to contemporary Protestant theology in the historical volumes is just as palpable as it is in Kohler's “Systematic Theology”.

Initially, the company "Calvary & Co." in Berlin was considered as the publisher, with which the first author contracts were signed. In 1904 the company "Veit & Co." in Leipzig took its place. Finally, the first volume was published in 1906 by “Carl Flemming, Verlag, Buch- und Künsterei” in Glogau. The actual “Grundriss” publishing house was then the Leipzig “ Buchhandlung Gustav Fock ”, where - apart from the last one from 1935 - all other titles have been published since 1907. The second editions were published by J. Kauffmann Verlag in Frankfurt am Main.

By 1913, when Elbogens Der Juden Gottesdienst appeared, the volumes or partial volumes were published in quick succession. Then, due to the war, publication stopped. In 1916 Mahler's “Chronologie” appeared. In 1919 the volume, which had previously been advertised several times, was presented by Cohen. Between 1922 and 1931 only new editions of five volumes were published. In 1935, the Marcus Verlag in Breslau (later taken over by Georg Olms Verlag in Hildesheim) presented Lewkowitz's contribution, the last ever published volume, without any reference to the “outline” or the writings of the Society for the Advancement of Science in Judaism . In the 1960s to 1980s, Olms-Verlag reprinted almost all volumes.

In the course of time, the planning of the "floor plan" was subject to multiple changes. In several stages, historical, especially literary-historical topics came more and more to the fore over rabbinical and religious-philosophical topics. A "New Plan", presented by the Society's committee members in March 1929, divided the total series, which has now grown to 44 volumes, into eight sections: Linguistics (2 volumes), Biblical Studies (2), Talmudic Studies (3), History of the Jews (5) , Historical auxiliary sciences (4), history of Jewish literature (15 volumes!), History of religion (8), systematic subjects (5). The last-named department includes the volumes by Kohler, Güdemann, Lewkowitz, Cohen and Elbogen (see below "Individual volumes").

Single volumes

Preliminary remark on volume counting : There is no counting in the volumes themselves or in catalog or advertising material. Even the mere membership of the “floor plan” series is only indicated in the later titles by means of a corresponding back impregnation, not in the title page design. An exception is Kohler's Systematic Theology of Judaism , which is expressly referred to in the title as volume 4 of the outline. The number of volumes from 1 to 10 given here follows the bibliographical index in the old card catalog of the Frankfurt University Library.

  • Moritz Güdemann: Jüdische Apologetik , Glogau: Flemming 1906. [Volume 1]
    • Reprographic reprint: Hildesheim / Zurich / New York: Olms, 1981.
  • Martin Philippson: Latest History of the Jewish People. Three volumes, Leipzig: Fock, 1907/1910/1911. [Volume 2]
    • Latest history of the Jewish people. Volume 1. Second, increased and improved edition: Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1922.
    • Latest history of the Jewish people. Volume 2. Second, increased and improved edition: Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1930.
  • Georg Caro : Social and economic history of the Jews in the Middle Ages and in modern times. Volume 1: The earlier and the high Middle Ages, Leipzig: Fock, 1908. [Volume 3]
    • Second edition: Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1924.
    • Reprographic reprint of the second edition: Hildesheim: Olms, 1964.
  • Kaufmann Kohler: Outline of a systematic theology of Judaism on a historical basis . Volume 4 of the “Outline of the Total Science of Judaism”, Leipzig: Fock, 1910.
    • Reprographic reprint: Hildesheim: Olms, 1979.
  • Samuel Krauss: Talmudic Archeology. Three volumes, Leipzig: Fock, 1910/1911/1912. [Volume 5]
    • Reprographic reprint of the Leipzig 1910–1912 edition: Hildesheim: Olms, 1966.
  • Ismar Elbogen: The Jewish worship service in its historical development , Leipzig: Fock, 1913. [Volume 6]
    • The Jewish worship service in its historical development. Second, improved edition, Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1924.
    • The Jewish worship service in its historical development. Third, improved edition, Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1931.
    • The Jewish worship service in its historical development. Fourth edition, Hildesheim: Olms, 1962.
    • Reprints thereof: Hildesheim: Olms, 1967; Hildesheim: Olms, 1995.
    • Jewish liturgy: a comprehensive history. 1. Engl. Edition, Philadelphia: Jewish Publ. Society, 1993.
  • Eduard Mahler : Handbook of Jewish Chronology , Leipzig: Fock, 1916. [Volume 7]
    • Reprographic reprint: Hildesheim: Olms, 1967.
  • Hermann Cohen: The religion of reason from the sources of Judaism , Leipzig: Fock, 1919. [Volume 8]
    • Parallel edition under the same title, but without the serial title: Frankfurt: J. Kauffmann, 1919.
    • Second edition: Religion [!] Of Reason from the Sources of Judaism. Revised from the author's manuscript and provided with an afterword by Bruno Strauss . With a picture of the author by Max Liebermann . 2nd edition, Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1929. (Since this edition there has been no reference to belonging to the "floor plan".)
    • Reprint: Cologne: Joseph Melzer, 1959 [parallel edition: Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1959].
    • Various other reprints of this: Cologne: Melzer, 1966; Wiesbaden: Fourier, 1978; Wiesbaden: Fourier, 1988; Wiesbaden: Fourier, 1995.
    • Religion of reason from the sources of Judaism. Published by Bruno Strauss , newly introduced by Ulrich Oelschläger, Wiesbaden: Marix-Verlag 2008.
    • Foreign language editions:
      • Dat ha-Tevunah mi-Mekorot ha-Yahadut. Translated by Zvi Wislavsky. Edited with notes by Shmuel Hugo Bergmann and Nathan Rotenstreich , Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1971.
      • Religion of reason out of the sources of Judaism. Translated with an introduction by Simon Kaplan; introductory essays by Leo Strauss , New York: F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1972 [Second edition: Introductory essays for the 2nd ed. By Steven S. Schwarzschild, Atlanta, Ga (USA): Scholars Press, 1995 (Texts and translations series; 7)]
      • Religion de la raison: tirée des sources du judaïsme. Traduction de l'allemand par Marc B. de Launay et Anne Lagny, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1994.
      • Religione della ragione dalle fonti dell 'ebraismo. Edizione italiana a cura di Andrea Poma; traduzione e note di Pierfrancesco Fiorato, San Paolo: Cinisello Balsamo, 1994 (Classici del pensiero; 3).
  • Georg Caro: Social and economic history of the Jews in the Middle Ages and in modern times. Volume 2: The later Middle Ages, Leipzig: Fock, 1920. [Volume 9]
    • Second edition: Frankfurt am Main, J. Kauffmann, 1929.
    • Reprographic reprint of the second edition: Hildesheim: Olms, 1964.
  • Albert Lewkowitz: Judaism and the intellectual currents of the 19th century , Breslau: Marcus, 1935. [Volume 10; also Volume 3 of Lewkowitz's work Judaism and the Spiritual Currents (Volume 1: The Renaissance, Breslau: Marcus, 1929; Volume 2: The Enlightenment, Breslau: Marcus, 1929)]
    • Reprographic reprint: Hildesheim: Olms, 1974.

literature

  • Kurt Wilhelm : Introduction. In: Kurt Wilhelm (Hrsg.): Science of Judaism in the German language area. A cross section. Volume 1. Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 1967, pp. 1-58 ( Scientific treatises of the Leo Baeck Institute. Vol. 16/1, ISSN  0459-097X ).
  • Michael Brenner , Stefan Rohrbacher (Ed.): Science of Judaism. Approaches after the Holocaust. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-20807-3 .
  • Dieter Adelmann: The "Religion of Reason" in the "Outline of the Overall Science of Judaism". In: Helmuth Holzey, Gabriel Motzkin , Hartwig Wiedebach (ed.): "Religion of Reason from the Sources of Judaism". Tradition and original thinking in Hermann Cohen's late work. = "Religion of reason out of the sources of Judaism". Tradition and the concept of origins in Hermann Cohen's later work. International Conference Zurich 1998. Olms, Hildesheim et al. 2000, ISBN 3-487-11140-3 ( Philosophical texts and studies. Vol. 55).
  • Dieter Adelmann: "Purify your thinking". On the Jewish background of Hermann Cohen's philosophy. Edited from the estate, supplemented and provided with an introductory foreword by Görge K. Hasselhoff. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8260-4301-7 , pp. 151-174.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Statutes of the Society for the Advancement of the Science of Judaism. In: Monthly for the history and science of Judaism. [MGWJ] 48 (New Series 12), 1904, p. 125.
  2. ↑ Note in: MGWJ. 47 (New Series 11), 1903, p. 572f. See also: First annual report of the Society for the Advancement of the Science of Judaism. In: MGWJ. 48 (New Series 12), 1904, p. 57.
  3. ^ Moritz Güdemann: Jüdische Apologetik. Flemming, Glogau 1906, p. [II].
  4. ↑ Cohen had committed himself in his publishing contract from 1904 to a delivery period of 1910/11.
  5. ↑ When the first edition was received, Cohen's contribution to the “floor plan” hardly played a role. But see Albert Lewkowitz's review in: MGWJ 65 (NF 29) (1921), pp. 1-15.

See also