The German-Jewish Paul

The Pauline Epistles continue to challenge scholars of political theology. Since the 18th century, this body of work as well as the figure of Paul himself have become the subject of a fruitful discussion on modernity in German-speaking territories. So far, the reception of Paul, undoubtedly the first Christian theologist, by German-Jewish authors as well as their attempts to articulate certain criticisms of modernity have not been sufficiently explored. Studying Paul means studying no less than modernity’s understanding of its self and modern Jewish identity.

It is therefore surprising that most scholars focus exclusively on either the Pauline body of work or the Jewish reception. In contrast to this, the project examines the Epistles themselves as well as their creative reception by a network of Jewish and non-Jewish writers in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries: Jacob Emden, Phillip Jacob Spener, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Franz Werfel, Leo Baeck, Karl Barth, Gershom Scholem, Martin Buber, Jacob Taubes, and Carl Schmitt.