Julius Guttmann (born Yitzchak Guttmann, ; 15 April 1880 in

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

– 19 May 1950 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

), was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

-born

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

, Jewish theologian, and philosopher of religion.

Biography

Julius was born to Jakob Guttmann (1845–1919) while Jakob served as

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...

during the years 1874 to 1892, when Hildesheim still had a large

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

population. Jakob himself published papers on a number of philosophical topics. The family moved to Breslau in 1880. Julius received his basic training at the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary and the University of Breslau. He was lecturer at Breslau from 1910 to 1919, and Lecturer at the Hochschule for the Academic Study of Judaism (The Reform Seminary) in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

from 1919 to 1934. At that time, he became Professor of Jewish Philosophy at

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

, a position which he held until his death.

Works

Guttmann is best known for ''Die Philosophie des Judentums'' (Reinhardt, 1933), translations of which are available in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, Spanish, English, Japanese, etc. The English title is ''The Philosophy of Judaism: The History of Jewish Philosophy from Biblical Times to Franz Rosenzweig''. sees in this publication "the last product in the direct line of the authentic Judaeo-German 'Science of Judaism'," more commonly known as '' Wissenschaft des Judentums''. While that movement did not utterly expire with the publication of Guttman's work—its spirit living on in the work of G. Scholem and H.A. Wolfson among many others—it is certainly the case that the ''Wissenschaft'' movement in Germany had by the 1930s already ceased to thrive. The original German edition of ''Philosophie des Judentums'' ends with

Hermann Cohen Hermann Cohen (; ; 4 July 1842 – 4 April 1918) was a German philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century". Bio ...

, the primary influence on Guttman's own philosophy, while the later Hebrew edition includes

Franz Rosenzweig Franz Rosenzweig (; ; 25 December 1886 – 10 December 1929) was a German theologian, philosopher, and translator. Early life and education Franz Rosenzweig was born in Kassel, Germany, to an affluent, minimally observant Jewish family. His fa ...

. It is also notable that Guttman's work excludes major thinkers of the

Kabbalistic Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (). Jewi ...

school, which reflects his own attitude toward

Jewish philosophy Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconc ...

(Werblowsky 1964).

Personalities Appearing in "Die Philosophie des Judentums"

* Chiwi al-Balkhi *

Saadia ben Joseph Saʿadia ben Yosef Gaon (892–942) was a prominent rabbi, gaon, Jewish philosopher, and exegete who was active in the Abbasid Caliphate. Saadia is the first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Judeo-Arabic. Known for his works o ...

* Isaac Israeli *

Solomon ibn Gabirol Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah (, ; , ) was an 11th-century Jews, Jewish poet and Jewish philosopher, philosopher in the Neoplatonism, Neo-Platonic tradition in Al-Andalus. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical ...

Bahya ibn Paquda Bahyā ibn Pāqudā (Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda, Pekudah, Bakuda; , ), c. 1050–1120, was a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived in the Taifa of Zaragoza in al-Andalus (now Spain). He was one of two people now known as Rabbeinu Behaye, the o ...

* Yehuda Halevy *

Abraham ibn Daud Abraham ibn Daud (; ) was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer, historian and philosopher; born in Córdoba, Spain about 1110; who was said to have been killed for his religious beliefs in Toledo, Spain, about 1180. He is sometimes known by the abbrevia ...

Moses Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle A ...

* Levi ben Gerson * Chasdai Crescas *

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'J ...

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

* Solomon Formstecher * Samuel Hirsch * Nachman Krochmal * Salomon Ludwig Steinheim * Moritz Lazarus *

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guttmann, Julius 1880 births 1950 deaths 20th-century German rabbis Israeli rabbis German Jewish theologians Jewish philosophers Philosophers of Judaism Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine People from the Province of Hanover People from Hildesheim German male non-fiction writers German Zionists 20th-century Israeli philosophers 20th-century German philosophers

Biography

Works

Personalities Appearing in "Die Philosophie des Judentums"

See also

References

External links