Category Archives: Martyrdom

Léo

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Abigail

Léo A few days ago I took a trip to Manhattan, formerly my home town, to visit old friends. One friend was Laurin Raikin, a founder of NYU’s Gallatin Division. We’ve known each other for many years and among the … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Romance, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Social Conventions, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Fiddler on the Roof", academic celebration, aesthetics, anonymous gift, anti-clerical, anti-clerical Spaniard, art history, benefactor, books on kabbalah, Brandeis University, Brazilian cafe, Catalan style, Catalonia, celebratory weekend, challah, City of Lights, communal prayer, cosmopolitan, deceptive evil, downtown Manhattan, dream of one's death, epic story, evil doers, existential choice, expensive concert, Fine art, foster father, free thinker, Friday night candles, godfather/godchild, Gruenewald "Crucifixion", handsome youth, Henri Bergson, Henri Foçillon, Jewish mysticism, last rites, Laurin Raikin, leading revolutionary, Leo Bronstein's Kabbalah and Art, Leon Trotsky, leukemia, Lower Manhattan, male friendship, Manhattan, meaningful mystery, meaningful story, men friends, moral rank, mortal illness, motorcycle accident, mystery, Narcis Serradel I Pascual, New York Public Library, nom de guerre, nonjudgmental, NYU Gallatin Division, objectivity, old Jew, Paris in the '20s, Paris in the '30s, philosophy, philosophy of art, poor Jews, precognitive dream, professors of the Sorbonne, Russian revolution, sabbath wine, seductive evil, Shabbos, shtibl, spontaneous remission, students at Brandeis, tenderness, the Sabbath, true story, undeceived, unhappy love affair, University of Paris, unseduced | 1 Comment

Zeitgeist

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Abigail

Zeitgeist It’s a German word for the “spirit of the times.” The historian Norman Stone gives an example of a moment when the Zeitgeist changed: “Dangerfield had it right when he observed how, in the cartoons of Punch, there was … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, TV, twentieth century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 1912, 1914, American philosopher, Anatomy as destiny, anthropologists, Art curators, Art forgery, Believing a lie, Cartoons in Punch, Children and truth, class warfare, contradictions, cultural relativism, Deceiving children, Detecting forged antiquities, Detecting lies, Detecting truth, determinism, dialectic, domination, Drunken father, Economic determinism, Epistemology, Etruscan Warrior, free will, Gender and choice, Hardwired traits, Having options, In step with the times, Inconsistencies, Institutional violence, Irrationalism, Jane Robert's The After Death Journal of an American Philosopher: the World View of William James, Living fashionably, Logic, Logos, Masks of power, Metropolitan Museum, Nietzsche, Norman Stone’s Europe Transformed: 1878-1919, Oppression, Oppressors and oppressed, Other-directed, Outliving one’s time, Posthumous recognition, Presentism, relativism, Righteous anger, search for truth, Signs of the times, social isolation, social retreat, Socratic method, Solitary mountain retreat, Spirit of the times, subjective relativism, the World, Truth and lies, Uninhabited island, universal truth, Victorian world, Well-meaning cops, William James, Zeitgeist | 7 Comments

Apologies to Kierkegaard

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Abigail

Apologies to Kierkegaard In a previous post or two of “Dear Abbie,” I found myself sharply critical – denunciatory even – of Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). He is the Danish philosopher/theologian who is still studied by serious people today, both inside … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged ancestral curse, anthropology, apology, Archiving, Ardor, Australian anthropology, Biographical researchers, biography, Bordello, Change of mind, Cold feet, Condemnations, Cursing God, Danish philosophy, Danish theology, dating, Dead and gone, Dead but not gone, Death and forgetting, Death and loss, Decent husband, Definitive biography, denunciation, embarrassment, Engagement to marry, Exotic, Exploited servant, fallen woman, Family curse, Far away places, Fear of intimacy, Fear of syphilis, Feminine pride, first love, genius, Good wife, Having enough faith, Having more faith, Healthy-minded girls, Hidden agenda, House of ill repute, idealization, idealizing women, imperfect world, Instability, Insufficient faith, intimacy, Joakim Garff's Kierkegaard’s Muse: The Mystery of Regine Olsen, Joakim Garff’s Kierkegaard A Biography, Kierkegaard biography, Last energies, Letting one down, Lifelong ardor, Loner, Marriage proposal, Masturbation, Merchant class, Mere cleverness, Mind Control, Morbid tangles, Offenses against God, original sin, Paper trail, patriarchy, philosopher, Poor shepherd boy, Pre-marital cold feet, Preserving memories, Prosperous merchant, Protestant culture, Psychic tangles, Regine Olson, Respectable families, Reversed judgment, Reversed opinion, Romantic memory, Running in the red, Second thoughts, Secret heart, self-protection, Sensitive loner, Serious thinker, Shotgun wedding, significant other, Soren Kierkegaard, Soul capture, Spiritual sincerity, Std, Straightforwardness, Sufficient faith, Syphilis, The unseen, theologian, theology, To jilt, Trivializing first love, Truthful, truthfulness, Tying the knot, Unavailable girls, Uneasy conscience, Unforgotten, Unseen witnesses, vulnerability, Whorehouse, Withdrawn condemnation | Leave a comment

Ridicule

Posted on August 8, 2017 by Abigail

Ridicule It seems almost an age since the Republican Primary Debates, but there is an aspect of that contest that still comes to my mind. Part of Donald Trump’s victory was due to his success in ridiculing his opponents. He … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "I'd rather be on the inside looking out", "the true Israel", a woman's looks, academic distinction, academic honors, adventures with God, ancient Israel, Assyrian conquest, Babylonian conquest, biblical stories, biography, caricature, Carly Fiorina, Christendom, Christianity, Christianity and Judaism, Christianity from Judaism, city walker, courtesy, Danish philosophy, deference, Divine intervention, Divine preference, Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s victory, duel of wits, Egyptian bondage, Exodus, first exile, flight from Egypt, God's presence, gospel songs, Governor Jeb Bush, grade school mockery, Hebrew Scripture, ironical style, irreverent theatre, Jehudim, Jewish assignment, Jewish breakaway sect, Jewish survival, Jewish vocation, Jews as witness, Joakim Garff's Soren Kierkegaard A Biography, kindergarten mockery, King of Denmark, malice, mockery of women, originality, parting of the Red Sea, Peder Ludvig Moller, philosophical talent, political downfall, political malice, political success, political victory, providence, redacting the Bible, Regine Olsen, Republican Primary Debates, ridicule, sarcasm, satirical magazine., Senator Marco Rubio, single women, Soren Kierkegaard, supersessionism, talented writer, ten lost tribes, The Corsair, The Covenant, The Jews, the Northern Kingdom, The Sullivan Family, tribe of Benjamin, tribe of Jehudah, twelve tribes, unlived sex life, women philosophers, writer and thinker | Leave a comment

Frustrations and Epiphanies

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Abigail

Frustrations and Epiphanies Our quiet town, with its Victorian houses (many of them kept in good repair by the law firms that have taken them over), its charming signs of civic care and pride, has for some years also been … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Industrial Revolution, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged AFSC, Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel, American Friends Service Committee, anti-Judaism, Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H. Joffe’s “When Did the Quakers Stop Being Friends?” in The Tower December 2013, befriending enemies, Bullying, charm, Christians in Middle East, civilians in Syria, confidentiality, conflict resolution, contagious ill will, David Nirenberg's Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition, defamation, dialogue, dinner invitations, ex-terrorist, foreign aid misuse, good will, harassment of Jewish students, hate crimes, incitement, inner turn, inter-group dialogue, intimidation of Jewish students and faculty, Israel, Israel Consul, Israel outnumbered, Jewish best friends, Jewish flight, Jewish survival, Jews in England, Jews in France, Joseph Puder’s “Iran’s Ugly Human Rights Record Must Be Addressed in StandWithUs Weekly Middle East Report 7/28/2017, judgments of fact, Kasim Hafeez, moral risk, neighborly relations, nonjudgmentalism, oldest hatred, one-sided views, Palestinian Authority, peace and love, Peace Center, persecution of Bahai, Persecution of Laogai, public debate, relativism, scapegoat, Second Temple, self-deception, self-righteousness, social anti-semitism, spiritual turning, street demonstrations, Students for Justice in Palestine, terrorist, threats to Israel, toxic claims, U.S. Senator, value judgments, vandalism, victims of hate crimes, vigils, violence, Werner Cohen's “The Quakers on Israel and China” in “Werner’s Opinions” 3/13/13, Western Wall, worldly experience, Yazidi | 2 Comments

Memoirs, True or False?

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Abigail

Memoirs, True or False? Readers of this column are reminded from time to time that I recently finished a memoir, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, and am looking round the publishing business to see if any editor/publisher will put up … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Law, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "a dog in that fight", 19th century Denmark, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Abigail L. Rosenthal's Tales of Rav Tsair, academe, aetheists, akedah, autobiographical, being misinformed, believers, bequest, betrothal, biography, boat launch, broken engagement, Columbia class of 1925, conflict of duties, Copenhagen, defamation, Diana Trililng's The Beginning of the Journey: The Marriage of Diana and Lionel Trilling, Diana Trilling, editor, ego-driven, formative experience, generous renunciation, Grandpa, hagiography, higher purpose, intellectual influence, intimacy, jilted girl, Joakim Garff's Kierkegaard’s Muse: The Mystery of Regine Olsen, Kierkegaard's Diary of a Seducer, Kierkegaardian influence, last will of Kierkegaard, Lionel Trilling, literary critic, magic mountain, male friendship, manipulation, married life, masks of ego, memoir, Mrs. Regine Schlegel, Natalie Robins' The Untold Journey: The Life of Diana Trilling, neurotic suspension of the ethical, New York intellectuals, obedience to divine commands, opinion shapers, philosophy, publisher, publishing business, realm of duty, Regine Olsen, self-will, shallow dogmatism, spiritual seduction, submission to the divine, Swiss sanitarium, Swiss TB treatment, TB treatment, teleological suspension of the ethical, The Binding of Isaac, the ethical level, the seducer, the spiritual level, theology, trust in God, University of Lausanne, woman as ideal | Leave a comment

The Woman on the Pedestal

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Abigail

The Woman on the Pedestal I’m pretty near the end of Pamela, the novel about the heroine whose virtue gets rewarded that I cited last week. How does she manage to hold on to her “treasure”? (It really is, since … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 18th century novel, 19th century Denmark, bad intentions, beloved, betrayal, better angels, biography, broken engagement, cattiness, courtship, existentialism, fallen woman, female wiles, feminine resistance, feminine rivalry, fine gentleman, heartbreak, high ideals, idealization, jilted woman, Joakim Garff's Kierkegaard’s Muse: The Mystery of Regine Olsen, living in history, love, male villainy, martial arts, masculine insults, masculine manipulation, masculine threats, masculine wiles, menaced innocence, moral turnaround, near violence, philosophic originality, powerful men, presence of mind, profaning one's image, reforming men, Romantic Love, Samuel Richardson's Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, self-defeating moves, sexual harrassment, simplifications, social ascent, social protection, social scandal, social status, Soren Kierkegaard, soul at risk, spiritual v ethical, traps of idealization, unequal combat, unequal struggle, unisex intellect, victory of underlings, virtuous heroine, virtuous woman, woman on pedestal, yin and yang | 2 Comments

	Abigail on Death, Dying, and Heroes
	Johan Herrenberg on Death, Dying, and Heroes
	Abigail on September 11, A Week Late…
	Johan Herrenberg on September 11, A Week Late…
	Abigail on Léo

Category Archives: Martyrdom

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