RELI 2110 Lecture Notes - Jewish Emancipation, Baruch Spinoza, Social Change
17 Feb 2014
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Document Summary
People making their own decisions about ethics and philosophy and religion. New social reality: nation creation, citizen and state, religion. Jews get caught up in the general enlightenment, and then get their own. Obviously they"re more concerned with getting more rights and freedoms. Interested in reforming judaism and jewish life itself (inward enlightenment, change). The jews should be denied everything as a nation, but granted everything as individuals . Jews seek for the normalization of the jewish condition. They existed through civil disabilities throughout the world up until even after the end of the holocaust. Jewish response to and within the enlightenment context. Need to normalize jewish condition: from civil disabilities to becoming integrated citizens. Effort to acquire same political civil and legal rights and responsibilities as other citizens. Pushback at the popular as well as aristocratic/elite. Mendelssohn: some discontinuity is good, some continuity is needed.
