Franz Rosenzweig 1886 – 1929
Franz Rosenzweig was a German Jewish philosopher and one of the great figures of twentieth-century Jewish thought. After a near-conversion to Christianity, he returned to Judaism in 1913 and devoted his life to its philosophical and educational renewal. The Star of Redemption, drafted in part on military postcards from the Macedonian front during the First World War, developed a new thinking based on the irreducible triad of God, world, and human being. From 1922 he lived with progressive paralysis, dictating letter by letter, and founded the Free Jewish House of Learning at Frankfurt, where he taught Buber, Adorno, and Benjamin among others.
Key facts
- Nationality
- German
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Jewish, Continental
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Franz Rosenzweig:
“Truth is not what we possess but what we are sent to find.”
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Attributed to Franz Rosenzweig:
“God, world, and man are the three irreducible terms of all genuine thought.”
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Attributed to Franz Rosenzweig:
“Eternity does not negate time; it fulfills it.”
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Attributed to Franz Rosenzweig:
“The new thinking begins with experience and ends with experience.”
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Attributed to Franz Rosenzweig:
“To love is to step into the open with another.”