Tag Archives: Jerry L. Martin

Our Twenty-Fourth Anniversary

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Abigail

As of last Friday, Jerry and I have been married for twenty-four years. By the time we met, neither of us expected to meet our true love – Mr. and Ms. Right – much less meet the way we did. … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, 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, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's A Good Look at Evil, academic excellence, acting on principle, analytic and continental philosophy, Brooklyn College, chance and providence, college administration, collegial conversation, commuting marriage, defending principles, defending who one is, destruction of the second temple, fact and fiction, faculty vote, failed marriage, fighting the good fight, Finding Mr. Right, giving up personal life, God makes divorces, God makes marriages, Graduate Center of CUNY, happy endings, improbable romance, inharmonious marriage, institutional intimidation, intimidated faculty, Israeli cousins, Jerry L. Martin, Jerusalem 70 CE, liberal arts curriculum, love and self protection, love when you least expect it, marital relations, marriage broker, married love, Mr. Right, Ms. Right, no atheists in foxholes, note in the Western Wall, personal defenses, personal life balance, petitionary prayer, philosophical colleagues, philosophical research, philosophy at Sydney University, prayer at the wall, principled life at personal cost, providence, providence and coincidence, religious skeptics, romance and self protection, romantic disappointment, romantic disillusion, romantic interest, romantic other, saving liberal arts, saving the core, secret ballots, selfless act, sense of self, serendipity and providence, shared values, strategic prayer, The Western Wall, true love, vulnerability, wedding anniversary | Leave a comment

The Blessing

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Abigail

We’ve just returned from the Denver meetings of the American Academy of Religion – more specifically the subfield that Jerry founded: Theology Without Walls. It was founded in recognition of the current, unprecedented openness of communication in our world. It … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Christianity, cities, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, memoir, memory, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, secular, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, social construction, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, 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, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abraham Isaac and Jacob, Advaita Vedanta, American Academy of Religion, Atheism, Biblical accuracy, biblical history, biblical Israel, Biblical people in real life settings, Biblical test cases, choices of evils, Christian missionaries, Christian persecution of the Jews, Christian Supersessionism, Christians Jews and sibling rivalry, covenant in history, cultural absolutes, deceptions and the Biblical Jacob, disinheriting an ancestor, global communication, global influence, gnostic, God beyond religion, God's pilot project, guru, guru follower, historical problem of sibling rivalry, Immanuel Kant, indigenous spirituality, instructive Biblical record, interreligious dialogue, interreligious influences, Isaac's blessing, Israel and the Promised Land, Jacob and Esau, Jerry L. Martin, Jewish identity, Jewish survival, Kant and Reform Judaism, Kant's moral philosophy, Karmic payback, local cultures, local religions, Marxists, modern Israel, monotheism, Mother Ganga, non-Western spirituality, origin stories, pacifism, Pentateuch, preserving the Biblical record, preserving the God story, Promised Sands, recording the Biblical story, Reform Judaism, religious homecoming, Replacement Theology, Replacement Theology and the Holocaust, Return to Israel, sibling rivalry, sibling rivalry in history, spiritual but not religious, spiritual exploration, stealing the blessing, struggling with an ancestor, Supersessionism and Israel, The Book of Genesis, The Covenant, the human story, The River Ganges, theologians, theologically unsolved, theology and sibling rivalry, Theology Without Walls, three patriarchs, Torah, Torah Study, Universal Creator, Universal God in the Bible, universal moral law, weekly parashah | 1 Comment

No Place Like Home

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Abigail

No Place Like Home My name Abigail means in Hebrew “father’s joy.” Which tells us that, at birth, I’d already received my assignment. Since my father was considered, by a number of his classmates in Columbia University’s stellar class of … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art of living, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, childhood, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, past and future, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "father's joy", Abigail, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Augustine’s Confessions, birthright, chip off the old block, class genius, Clifton Fadiman, Columbia University’s class of 1925, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, daughter's chivalry to father, deracinated, earning one's name, father fixation, filial piety, fitting in with the crowd, following one's calling, freedom from parental pressure, Freudian views, girls in fathers' shadow, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal’s Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way, honoring one's desires, illustrated books, intellectual girls, Jacques Barzun, Jerry L. Martin, Jewish virgins, life assignment, Lionel Trilling, loving philosophy, mainstream Jewish life, maternal expectations, Meyer Schapiro, name meanings, outward religious observance, owning one's name, philosophic conversation, philosophy and the feminine, quitting the rabbinate, religious detachment, romantic fulfillment, romantic happy ending, romantic self-respect, The American Jewish Historical Society, the rabbinate, Whittaker Chambers, women philosophers | 1 Comment

Read it Here First! My Obit!

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Abigail

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 | 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 | 7 Comments

The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Argument

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Abigail

The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Argument Arguing, in the philosophical sense, doesn’t mean quarreling. The term “argument” designates one or more statements, each capable of being true or false, which present the basis for a final statement called the conclusion. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, 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, health, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, immorality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, 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, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged actual human encounters, ad hominem fallacy, American Philosophical Association, analyzing argument situations, analyzing arguments, angry women, another woman’s marriage, answering with silence, anti-semitism, argument situations, argument stratagems, at a loss, bad argument, basis for knowledge, blindsided, body language, Christina Hoff Sommers, coded anti-Semitism, collegial friendship, collegial taboos, conclusion, contemporary feminism, covert aggression, covert anti-Semitism, criteria, critic of feminism, defenseless, false reasons, female friendships, feminine reasoning, feminist argument, feminist audience, feminist boundaries, feminist philosophers, fielding insults, flinging an epithet, friendship breakup, George Bernard Shaw's The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, guilt tripping, how to argue, informal logic, insulting your friend’s wife, intellectual boundaries, intellectual space, intelligent woman, irrelevant reasons, Jerry L. Martin, killing time, knowing better, linguistic consensus, loaded question, Logic, logic lessons, losing an argument, male combatant, male friendship, male quarrels, male/female combatants, man to man combat, masculine reasoning, my friend’s husband, neuropathy treatments, offending a wife, old friends, passive-aggressive insults, premise, preserving friendship, preserving social protocol, propositions, proving manhood, real life argument, real life argument context, reasoning, reasons to believe, responding to insults, self-respect, shared objectives, smiling insult, social insult, social self-respect, sound argument, speechless, statements, supporting an argument, term of art, textbook argument, the art of argument, theory of argument, unstated issues, valid argument, verbal counter-attack, virgin territory, women friends | 2 Comments

The Return of the Well-Tailored Proto-Nazi

Posted on July 16, 2019 by Abigail

The Return of the Well-Tailored Proto-Nazi This is about my return encounter with the dapper gentleman who first surfaced last May, when I gave a talk at California’s Claremont School of Theology, based on a chapter from my book, A … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Biblical God, books, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, 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, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, love, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a quiet life, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", adversary’s energy field, bad vibes, banality of evil, book about evil, Claremont School of Theology, deceiving appearances, defending the Holocaust, denouncing evil, Divine intervention, essentially Jewish, experimental neuropathy treatment, force of will, founding TWW, frustrating the adversary, genocide, gentle reader, gentleman, giving ground to the adversary, giving no openings, Hannah Arendt, he’s back, Holocaust Denial, Jerry L. Martin, Jewish defensiveness, Jewish self-defense, justifying genocide, Loma Linda Neuropathic Therapy Center, martial arts, martial arts of the spirit, mental focus, mental self-defense, New York Subway, not the type, petitionary prayer, power of prayer, powers of darkness, predatory vibes, rationalizing genocide, silent aggression, speak of the devil, the best of taste, Theology Without Walls, TWW trialogue, wanting to flee, young theologians | 4 Comments

Sacrificial Acts

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Abigail

Sacrificial Acts A review of mine, written in support of an author I greatly admire, was just accepted for publication. It was written at the sacrifice of long-postponed time and energy that, right now, I really needed to expend … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, art of living, autonomy, books, bureaucracy, cities, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, politics of ideas, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, sex appeal, 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, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza's Way" by Henry M. Rosenthal; ed. Abigail L. Rosenthal, 17th Century Philosophers, academia, altruism, “Brooklyn Connections”, Benedict Spinoza, Brooklyn College, career advancement, career sacrifice, college curriculum, deathbed promise, expecting pay off, expecting rewards, faculty fight, father fixation, father/daughter relationships, finding balance, getting published, happy endings, higher education, honoring commitments, impromptu speech, invited speaker, Jerry L. Martin, job struggle, knowing what is due, Life Force, love at first sight, love sight unseen, modern philosophy, online editors, online publications, overcoming the ego, personal life, posthumous work, professional advancement, professional reputation, professional standing, providence, publication, self-sacrifice, setting priorities, strategic acumen, tea with friends, teaching obligations, Thomas Hobbes, unexpected rewards, unjust firing, unpublished manuscript, unselfishness | 2 Comments

“All About Love”

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Abigail

“All About Love” On a wintry Parisian evening, I was sitting with my Czech friend Anna in Chez Maurice, one of the seedier cafes on the rue de Tournon. A group of young Russians were within earshot, one holding forth … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, desire, erotic life, friendship, philosophy, relationships, social conventions, the examined life, the problematic of woman | Tagged Anna, Arts, burden, Guess, Jerry L. Martin, love, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mr. Right, Paris, philosophy, professor, relationships, Romance, Russian, Russian language, suffering, teaching | Leave a comment

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