Jewish Culture Between Mystical Aesthetics and Lebensphilosophie
Jewish Culture Between Mystical Aesthetics and Lebensphilosophie
This chapter attempts to elucidate the fabric of the early Buber's concept of culture. While Buber is usually associated with the school of cultural or spiritual Zionists, his conception of Jewish cultural renewal was distinctive even within this group. This was largely a result of his emphasis on a Zionist politics of culture (Kulturpolitik), which he thought must take into account that the culture of a people is not “purely spiritual” but embraces “productivity” in all spheres of life. Zionist Kulturpolitik is, therefore, “the most consequential and organized striving [of the Jewish people] to direct this productivity towards freedom.” Influenced by Nietzsche's philosophy of culture, Buber held the liberation of Jews' creative energies to be the most urgent task. The spiritual rebirth of the Jewish people must precede the regeneration of its culture. In this context, Buber assigned a constructive and lasting role to the Diaspora.
Keywords: Martin Buber, Jewish cultural renewal, Zionist Kulturpolitik, Diaspora
Chicago Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
