Tag Archives: Jacob Taubes
The “New York Intellectuals” and Me
Recently I’ve been reading a book titled Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words, by Joseph Dorman. It’s based on the author’s interviews with surviving members of a group that played a significant part in the … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, 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, 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, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged A Good Look at Evil by Abigail L. Rosenthal, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s “A Hegelian Key to Hegel’s Method”, academic norms, academic values, American intellectual culture, anti-capitalism, apocalyptic thinking, Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words by Joseph Dorman, art historian, Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon, “unreal city in the future”, betraying the revolution, Book-of-the-Month Club judge, brainwashing, children of Jewish immigrants, City College alcove 1, City College in the 1930’s, City College Marxists, Clifton Fadiman, coerced confessions, Columbia University class of 1925, Columbia University rabbi, cultural critic, culturally malnourished, dating artwork, defacing Alma Mater, Diana Trilling’s The Beginning of the Journey, discrediting a civilization, enemy of the people, ex-communist, finding attribution of artworks, genius of the class of 1925, George Orwell's "1984", Hannah Arendt, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal’s journal, Hitler-Stalin Pact, ignorance of civilization, Information Please, intellectual conscience of America, intellectual friendship, intellectual safety, intellectuals and the Great Depression, Jacob Taubes, Jacques Barzun, Jewish intellectuals, Joseph Stalin, Judaism and the method of argument, Leon Trotsky, Lionel Trilling, Lionel Trilling and Henry M. Rosenthal, literary critic, Lower East Side garment district, Lower East Side immigrants, Meyer Schapiro, Meyer Schapiro as art historian, mobs against the academy, New York intellectuals, New York intellectuals network of influence, public intellectuals, radio personality of the 1950’s, Reign of Terror, revolutionaries vs liberals, The Country of the Revolution, The God That Failed, the Great Depression, The Moscow Trials, the opiate of the people, Trotskyists vs Stalinists at City College, Trotskyites, twentieth-century America, Whittaker Chambers, world wide revolution, youthful friendships
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Does God Play Favorites?
Does God Play Favorites? I don’t enjoy competition. By that, I’m not intending to reject anyone’s marketplace of skills or services. It’s just my sincere personal confession. For example, I was a natural athlete as a child. But later, … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Uncategorized, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged 70 C.E., accepting The Covenant, accommodating to Roman occupation, anti-semitism's historical roots, Chabad center, chess as war, choosing a bride, chosen land, Christian quietism, chronology of the Gospels, competition, cosmic comeback, curing anti-semitism, demonization of Jews, Divine favoritism, doing first then hearing The Covenant, Elaine Pagel's The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagel's The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews Pagans and Heretics, Essenes, fair competition, fall of Second Temple, Gentile redemption, God's election, God's romance, Israel as God's treasure, Jacob Taubes, Jewish rebellion, Jewish uprising against Rome, Jewish/Christian competition, Krister Stendahl, marketplace, natural athlete, non-competitive fun, Pharisees and Rome, playing favorites, politics of religion, Providential misunderstandings, psychic card playing, render unto Caesar, rodeo competition, Roman repression, romancing God, Rome and Jewish opinions, second coming, The Covenant and the nations, thumb on the scales, why the Jews, winners v losers, winning and losing, world historical mistake
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Book Matters
Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes By Jerry Z. Muller This well-crafted, exhaustively researched, intellectually balanced biography of Jacob Taubes may be on its way to becoming the talk of the town. Since its subject is an … Continue reading →
Posted in book reviews, books, Gnosticism
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Tagged antinomian, Apostle Paul, Eric Voegelin, Father Mersenne, Gershom Scholem, Jacob Taubes, Jerry Z. Muller's Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes, Karl Barth, Krister Stendahl, Leo Strauss, Martin Buber, Michael and Edith Wyschogrod, Reinhold Neibuhr, Stanley Cavell, Thomas Altizer
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Academic Gossip
Academic Gossip One of the seldom-mentioned pleasures of life in the academy – the House that Plato Built – is academic gossip. It juxtaposes the life of ideas against real-life — whetting one’s appetite for both! I’m about two-thirds of … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, 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, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, male power, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, 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, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged AAR presidency, above the battle, academic gossip, academic politics, academic religionists, ambivalent relations, anarchist, antinomian, authority on Levinas, biographer's indiscretion, biographer's license, Columbia Seminar on Hermeneutics, Columbia University Religion Department, East Coast academia, Edith Wyschogrod, fatal gossip, Free University in Berlin, gender favoritism, Gnostic Libertine, Hillary Clinton, Jacob Neusner, Jacob Taubes, Jerry Z. Muller's Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes, Jewish Studies, lashon hara, life of ideas, life of ideas v real life, malicious rumors, Michael Wyschogrod, Morton Smith, mutual back scratching, mutual witnessing, New York Jewish intellectuals, nihilist, not getting involved, philosophico-theological terrain, roman à clef, rumor mongering, sexist accusations, sharing life stories, social assassination, social complexity, social death, social interactions, social sanctimony, Taubes anecdotes, the evil tongue, the House that Plato Built, therapeutic guru, visiting professorship
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Dragon Hunting
Dragon Hunting Dragon hunting has never, to my knowledge, been deemed the sport of kings since the requisite skills are not confined to any class of people, royal or other. Rather, the know-how is reserved for gifted souls. They know … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, 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, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", antinomian, argument's power, argument's weakness, Épater les bourgeois, being turned to stone, brainwashing, brainwashing in Korean War, breaking a spell, capturing minds, coerced confessions, combatting dragons, concealed intentions, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, controlling others, cunning manipulator, deliberate incivility, dragons, Electoral College results, gifted souls, Greek mythology, having what it takes, Jacob Taubes, January 6th Hearings, January 6th historic precedence, January 6th Insurrection, January 6th legal evidence, January 6th mob, justice as the interest of the stronger, Me Too Movement, mental coercion, methods of manipulation, occult knowledge, ousting a predator, Pence's citizenship, Plato's Republic, pointless erudition, pointless wit, power relations, rule-breaking, Secret Service Agents, seeing the wolf first, sexual predator, slaying dragons, society's rules, Socrates, spellbinder, sport of kings, subverting minds, swallowed by a dragon, theological pied piper, Thrasymachus, Trump and Pence, Trump and The Insurrection, Trump and The Secret Service, uncanny power, under a spell, unfair means, unholy attraction, uninvited intrusion, Vice President Pence
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The Transgressions of Jacob Taubes
The Transgressions of Jacob Taubes Prominently featured in a recent issue of the New York Times Book Review is a biography titled Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes by Jerry Z. Muller. The reviewer is Mark Lilla, … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, book reviews, books, cities, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, male power, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, promissory notes, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged academic seducer, being a man, betrayals and suicides, brilliant philosophy students, careerism, Carl Schmitt, Columbia University, Columbia University Religion Department, Columbia University seminar on Hermeneutics, disappointing one's hopes, eros of thought, Faustian bargain, fighting for one's honor, flower of evil, foreseeing the Holocaust, Free University in Berlin, Gershom Scholem, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Herbert Marcuse, Horace Friess, intellectual desert, Jacob Taubes, Jerry Z. Muller's Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes, John Herman Randall, libertine Gnosticism, lives of philosophers, Maoist teach-ins, Mark Lilla, mesmeric personality, moral evil, New York Times Book Review, nihilism, Paul Kristeller, philosophical biography, Rodin's The Thinker, ruining lives, seducer, seductive ploy, self-distrust, sexual escapades, social choreography, social subversion, Susan Sontag, trail of shattered lives
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Read it Here First! My Obit!
Read it Here First! My Obit! All this week, Jerry and I have been attending to what I call “Last Arrangements.” Though we’re not expecting to kick off any time soon, you never know, and one of the chores I’ve … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, 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, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, 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, terror, 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, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged A.J. Ayer, Abigail L. Rosenthal, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s A Good Look at Evil, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s “A Hegelian Key to Hegel’s Method”, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s “Feminism without Contradictions”, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s “God and the Care for One’s Story”, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s “The Right Way to Act”, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s Confessions of a Young Philosopher, academic arbitrator, academic job fight, anthologized philosophy articles, Augustinian confession, banality of evil, Barnard College, Bernard Williams, Brooklyn College Philosophy Department, Chaim Tchernowitz, chance episodes, chief rabbi of Odessa, Chronicle of Higher Education, College de France, Columbia class of 1925, Columbia M.A., Columbia University, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, defending Holocaust victims, defending introspection, dialectical life, doctoral exams, doing philosophy, evil life, falling in love, feminine wisdom, filial piety, Fulbright Scholar, good life, Hannah Arendt, Hebraist renaissance, Hegel in a Hegelian way, Hegel’s humanism, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal’s The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way, Hermeneutics, High School of Music and Arts, Holocaust, hometown Manhattan, honors in philosophy, Jacob Taubes, Jerry L. Martin, Jerusalem street name, John Bacon, last arrangements, life as a search for truth, Marx and Freud, Memorial Minute, Morality in the Modern World, obituary, Penn State, philosopher’s daughter, philosophic friendship, philosophic life, Proceedings and Addresses, providential intervention, Rachelle Rosenthal, Rav Tsair, self-corrective narrative, sensitivity measure, spoiling the story, SUNY at Stony Brook, Sydney Department of Traditional and Modern Philosophy, Sydney University, The class genius, The Jewish Daily Forward, the lives of women, The New York Post, the Sorbonne, University Seminar on Hermeneutics
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“A Forgotten Detour”
“A Forgotten Detour” As I finished the chapter of Confessions of a Young Philosopher that’s about my years as a graduate student at the Columbia University and Penn State departments of philosophy, a missing piece of that time suddenly reappeared, … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, postmodernism, power, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, relationships, religion, roles, romance, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged a life problematic, academic ambition, Columbia philosophy department, Columbia Seminar on Hermeneutics, Columbia University, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, Fair Play for Cuba Committee, gender of the mind, graduate assistants, Hannah Arendt, Hegel seminar, Hermeneutics, Jacob Taubes, James Baldwin, John Hermann Randall, jokes about women, Krister Stendhal, New Testament, New York intellectuals, Old Testament, opinion shapers, Paul Kristeller, philosophic apprenticeship, pre-feminist days, predatory professors, Susan Sontag, the beautiful people, the greasy pole, theological bigotry, theology of contempt, truth-seeking, Union Theological Seminary, woman's honor, women graduate students, women philosophers, women philosophy students
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