Synopses & Reviews
We are exorbitant, and rightly so, when we cut any link we may have to cosmological powers. Levinas invites us to be exorbitant by distancing ourselves from visions of metaphysics, epistemology, and theology. We begin to listen well to Levinas when we hear him inviting us to break completely with the pagan world in which the gods are simply the highest beings in the cosmos and learn to practice an adult religion in which God is outside cosmology and ontology. God comes to mind neither in our attempts to think him as the creator of the cosmos nor in moments of ecstasy but in acts of genuine holiness, such as sharing a piece of bread with someone in a time of desperate need. Levinas, in short, enjoins us to be exorbitant in our dealings with one another. This book asks how the betweenof Levinas's thinking facilitates a dialogue between Jews and Christians. In one sense, Levinas stands exactly between Jews and Christians: ethics, as he conceives it, is a space in which religious traditions can meet. At the same time, his position seems profoundly ambivalent. No one can read a page of his writings without hearing a Jewish voice as well a a philosophical one. Yet his talk of substitution seems to resonate with Christological themes. On occasion, Levinas himself sharply distinguishes Judaism from Christianity--but to what extent can his thinking become the basis for a dialogue between Christians and Jews? This book, with a stellar cast of contributors, explores these questions, thereby providing a snapshot of the current state of Jewish-Christian dialogue.
Review
A first-rate collection of essays on Emmanuel Levinas.-Claire Katz
A very distinguished collection of scholars.-Michael Morgan
A valuable contribution from which not only philosophers, but also theologians and scholars in Jewish, Catholic, and religious studies can learn much.-Adriaan T. Peperzak
". . . The individual essays in this volume are most engaging and well balanced, advancing provocative readings of Levinas as a philosopher; as a philosopher or religion; as a Jewish philosopher; and as a contemporary thinker highly relevant to discussions about modern and postmodern Christian thought."--H-Net Reviews
Synopsis
First, this collection seeks to examine exactly what Levinas's writings mean for both Jews and Christians. Second, it takes a snapshot of the current state of Jewish-Christian dialogue, using Levinas as the rationale for the discussion. Three generations of Levinas scholars are represented. Contributors: Leora Batnitzky, Jeffrey Bloechl, Richard A. Cohen, Paul Franks, Robert Gibbs, Kevin Hart, Dana Hollander, Robyn Horner, Jeffrey L. Kosky, Jean-Luc Marion, Michael Purcell, Michael A. Signer, Merold Westphal, Elliott R. Wolfson, Edith Wyschogrod.
About the Author
KEVIN HART is Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Christian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, where he also holds courtesy professorships in the Departments of English and French.
MICHAEL A. SIGNER was Abrams Professor of Jewish Thought and Culture in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.