1st Edition

Reflections of a Wondering Jew

Edited By Morris Cohen Copyright 2010
    184 Pages
    by Routledge

    186 Pages
    by Routledge

    Much as he considered himself a philosopher, Morris Raphael Cohen was also immersed in the machinery of social life. From his first years of "engagement" as a volunteer teacher in Thomas Davidson's school for working-class people, to his last as professor of philosophy at New York's City College and at the University of Chicago, he constantly sought to understand the underlying assumptions of human behavior.

    The studies Cohen gathered together for Reflections of a Wondering Jew are an indication of representative achievements of his life. He was deeply involved in the experience of the American Jewish community, and much of his work here consists of an inquiry into and analysis of specifically Jewish affairs. Some of his most valuable contributions to American thought and maturity are those that were never included in standard philosophical efforts. His work and scholarship provide foundations for the field of human problems and the history of ideas. These lectures illuminated the way forward in so many of our crisis years.

    There is a certain tragedy to the fact that for many decades Morris Raphael Cohen had hoped to organize and put into systematic form his literary reflections on Jewish problems and American liberalism. Towards the end of his life, he faced the realization that many of his intended writings would never reach fruition. Though this volume may not be quite what Cohen intended, it is a product of a mature giant in American intellectual history.

    Introduction to the Transaction EditionPublisher's NotePART ONEJEWS IN AMERICA1. What I Believe as an American Jew2. Roads for American Jewry3. Jewish Education4. Yiddish5. Jews in Commerce and the ProfessionsPART TWOJEWS AND THE WORLD6. Philosophies of Jewish History7. Maimonides8. The Jew in SciencePART THREEBOOK REVIEWS9. Lods' The Prophets and the Rise of Judaism10. Rees' A Critique of the Jews11. Parkes' The Jew and His Neighbour and Lewisohn's The Answer12. Bloom's My Memories and Frumkin's In the Springtime of Jewish Socialism13. A Rabbinic Anthology14. Hoschander's The Priests and Prophets and Finkelstein's The Pharisees15. Freud's Moses and Monotheism16. Strickland's Religion and the State in Georgia17. The American Jewish Year Book18. Kenyon's The Bible and Archaeology19. Judaism and Christianity20. Powell's Spinoza and ReligionAcknowledgmentsIndex

    Biography

    Morris Cohen