100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. These materials may be under copyright. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission. If you have questions about the collection, please contact the Bentley Historical Library at bentley.ref@umich.edu

September 08, 1961 - Image 11

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1961-09-08

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Walter Kaufmann's 'Faith of a Heretic'
a Philosophically-Atheistic Study

In "The Faith of a Heretic,"
published by Doubleday, Walter
Kaufmann, who has been teach-
ing philosophy at Princeton Uni-
versity since 1941 and who has
been a visiting professor at a
number of universities, including
the University of Michigan, criti-
cizes major tenets and approaches
in all religions.
Tracing his Jewish background,
explaining family attitudes and
his own training first as a Luth-
eran and then as a Jew, Kauf-
mann emerges as a philosophic
atheist.
He does not mince words when
he attacks culprits, when he ex-
poses Nazism, when he expresses
resentment against the inhuman-
ity of man to man. Here is one
of the typical examples of his
expose , of religious intolerance:
"The Crusaders, after pray-
ing and receiving communion,
'heartily devoted the day to the
extermination .of the Jews .'
Luther, who prayed with un-'
common passion and intensity,
counseled the Germans to 'set
fire to their synagogues,' to
`break down and destroy their
houses,' and `to drive them out
of the country' (XX, 2478ff.)."
While, as he states, it is not
his "ultimate concern" in • his
book to deal with the horror of
Nazism, he expresses this senti-
ment:
"Some sense of responsibility
to the six million Jews killed in
my lifetime, especially to some
whom I loved and who loved me,
and to millions of others, Jew
and Gentile/ killed in our time
and in past centuries, is certainly
among my deepest feelings."
Major factors in all religions
are the topics discussed by Kauf-
mann. He especially analyzes the -
Old and New Testaments. He be-
lieves that the Hebrew prophets
should be divided into nee
groupings rather 'than merely
the "major" and the "minor." He
would place among the first the
prophets who, like Elisha, did not
Write books or compose magnifi-
cent speeches. In his second
group would appear the two
Isiahs, Jeremiah, Amos, Hosea
-- and the others who composed
poetic speeches and who called on
the people to mend their erring
ways. In the third group are those '
who, like . Ezekiel, "turned away
from reality and had visions."
In the course of a discussion -
of suffering as dealt with in
the Bible, Kaufmann asserts:
"Natural theology is a form of
heathenism, represented in the
Bible by the friends of Job.
The only theism worthy of our
respect believes in God not
- because of the way the world
is made but in spite of that.
The only theism that is no less
profound than the Buddha's
atheism is that represented in
the Bible by Job and Jere-
miah "
Kaufmann ihdicates, in his
discussion of the law of retali-
ation and the generally misinter-
preted "eye for an eye" provision
that "the principle of retaliation
was never applied mechanically,"
that "emphasis was on the spirit,
to 'Wit, that an injury is an injury
and the law is no respecter of
persons." Putting it more posi-
tively, he declares that "the
words of the ancient, pre-Mosaic
law of talion are employed to
announce the new .principle of
equality before the laid."
On the question of slavery,
Kaufmann has these interesting
things to say: "Since there is no
Hebrew word for 'slave' other
than ewed, which means 'servant,'
it is not an easy thing to say
whether some form of slavery
persisted through most of the
time covered by the Old Testa-
ment or not. In theory, at least,
the institution of the Sabbath,. on
which the slave, or servant, was
to rest, too, and the Sabbath
year, in which any Hebrew slave
was to go free . . . and the insti-
tution of the. Jubilee, every DIU-



Anti-Jewish Publication Issued in Munich

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)

German Ambassador in London.
The Aguda has asked the West
LONDON—The West German
Foreign Office is making in- German Embassy to consider the
quiries about an anti-Jewish pub- situation which "has arisen as a
of them, and looking to them for lication edited 'and published in result of the publication" of the
guidance and truth."
'eh by a former wartime Hungarian paper Hidfo, edited
Kaufmann asserts th
fascist, the Agudas by Lajos Marschlko. The Execu-
history cannot boa
tive here was in- tive said the publication had "a
vivid, valiant
day by the West violent anti-Jewish character."
acter t
er." He offers in-
tere
analyses of Schweitzer
Our Friends and Patrons . . . Best Wishes for a
`leaves no doubt that he
Happy New Year--ZVI 11. Wachtel and Family
skiers Jesus' view t
Now appearing through 17th Sept.
een fact lly mistaken,
does not
JACKIE WASHINGTON
oncile J
Spanish, Mexican, American and HEBREW songs
With his
Beginning Yarn Kippur Night
"Rev'
lip in,
THE DUDAIM
mann
e dif-
Ben & Adam—returning 'by popular demand
ferent
lass phe-
Mondays: talent night
nomeil
nied by a re-
Wednesdays: live broadcast, WDTM-FM
crude
superstition, in-
intolerance, and even
19940 Livernois
outright persecution of heretics.
Second, the intensification o
Detroit 21
UN 2-4455
ligiousness among non-co
minorities who are
make sacrific
. AN AUTO DEALER
for their
. Third, the ap-
WHO
IS INTERESTED IN
peara
such great men as
E
.
,
.
AS
WELL
AS SALES
the
prophets."
s doubtful whether many
r, the progressive name in the com-
gious leaders will approve of
eld—Geller, for 26 years an active
ufmann's
pries, bu
11
of the Detroit Automobile scene—a
e agreed
bination hard to beat. Sales in their new
Heretic"
and dese
d used car departments, and service in

eth year, in which non-Hebrew
slaves, too, may have been meant
to go free, would seem to have
gone far toward abolishing slav-
ery."
In his discussion of "Jesus
vis-a-vis Paul, Luther and .
Schweitzer," Kaufmann states:
"George Foote Moore declared
himself utterly unable to ins
derstand how a Jew of Pa
background could ignore
a central idea as that of
pentance and forgiveness."
rejects "two • cliches: th
the Judaeo-Christian tra
as well as the claim that
ern civilization is a synth
of Greek and Christian ele-
ments. Against the former, I
stress the discontinuity between
Jesus and the pre-exilic proph-
ets: one might , as well speak
of the Judaeo-Islamic tradition
or of the Greco-Christian tra-
dition. Against the latter, I
point to the • fact that Christi-
anity itself was a child of
Greek and Hebrew parents;
that the Gospels are a product
of Jewish Hellenism; and th
Paul, though he claimed
have sat at the feet of G
iel, was in important res
closer to Plato and to G
cism than to _MiCalz or Jo
He points out that "Pa
the
walk, provides ho.•
the other -early. Christian
ve and
orphaned,
had been raised as Jews,
aged, guid-
purpose
g and puts hopes
in the Hebrew Scriptures,
ody's future? You do—
stantly citing them, understand-
ing contemporary events in terms when you give to the Torch Drive.

CAFE GALERIE

their modern service, bump and paint shops!

The Best Compact Deal on the Best Compact Car

HARV GELLER RAMBLER, Inc.

WE'RE AS NEAR TO YOU AS YOUR PHONE!

I

To reduce s
ed fats in your family's
diet—
-PARV is now made with pure
corn
and other veget le oils .. pol
WI
rated to preserve
al
eic content. This i
or is the biggest
e—a vital key to
fo our family.

kosher & pareve contains
no milk or animal fat „
only pure vegetable
oil ingredients

3255: FORT ST., LINCOLN - PARK

WA 8-6900

Delicious as it is
Moira— AR-PARV
has a sunny bright flavo nd golden-
smoot
ture ... mak' • t a grand table
nd simpi
• nderful in your
and
Use MAR-PARV

Another fine product of
THE MIAMI MARGARINE COMPANY, CINCINNATI, OHIO

makers of

NU-MAID Margarine and DURKEE'S Salad Dressings

DISTRIBUTED BY: RASKIN FOOD CO. H. WARSH Cr SONS

a

O

4

111

.a.

oa

a

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan