PTN Event: Rosenzweig for the Contemporary Moment

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig’s classic text The Star of Redemption, join the Political Theology Network for a special roundtable on this text’s relation to the current political moment.

Format: Online via Zoom

Time: June 1, 4-5:30 p.m. Eastern

Register: http://bit.ly/rosenzweig-star100

Questions to  cjs@du.edu

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The discussion will be moderated by Elias Sacks (University of Colorado, Boulder) and Sarah Pessin (University of Denver) and will begin with four presentations by leading scholars:

Leora Batnitzky (Pricenton University, Religion) will speak on “Rosenzweig, Race, and Supersessionism,” exploring how Star of Redemption can contribute to recent discussions of race and supersessionism. Batnitzky is Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Jewish Studies and Religion at Princeton, where she works in the areas of philosophy of religion modern Jewish thought, hermeneutics, and contemporary legal and political theory.

Martin Kavka (Florida State University, Religion) will ask “Can Political Action be Redemptive?” He will explore the theme of redemption in Star and apocalypse in Aimé Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to a Native Land, arguing that Césaire does better than Rosenzweig on questions of possibility, politics, and minority identities. Kavka is Professor of Religion at Florida State University, where he directs the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities.

Randi Rashkover (College of William and Mary, Religious Studies) will address “Prophetic Politics and Political Resistance in the Star of Redemption.” She will investigate whether or not (and on what grounds) there is an account of deliberative political reflection in the Star that can suffice to support political resistance against tyranny or totalitarianism as defined by Hannah Arendt. Rashkover holds the Nathan and Sofia Gumenick Chair in Judaic Studies at William & Mary.

Larisa Reznik (Pomona college, Religious Studies) will offer a presentation titled “’Both Lawful and Coercive’: Reading Western Political Rationality Like an Abolitionist Would.” She will probe whether Rosenzweig’s discussion of legal violence in the Star can in any meaningful way engage with current abolitionist work on policing and state violence. Reznik is the Stauffacher Visiting Scholar in Religious Studies at Pomona College.

This event is sponsored by the Political Theology Network in cooperation with the Week of Jewish Philosophy, an initiative of the University of Colorado, Boulder’s Program in Jewish Studies and the University of Denver’s Center for Judaic Studies