Metaphysics of the Profane by Jacobson, Eric -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Half title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Introduction Part I. Messianism

Chapter 1. The Messianic Idea in Walter Benjamin’s Early Writings

The Messianic State: Does the Messiah Initiate or Consummate? The Division of the Holy and Profane The Messianic Intensity of Happiness Tragic Devotion The Worldly Restitution of Immortality Nihilism

Chapter 2. Gershom Scholem’s Theological Politics

Tradition and Anarchism Zion: Anarchist Praxis or Metaphor? A Programmatic Torah Revolutionary Nihilism Cataclysmic Anarchism Critical Anarchism

Part II. On the Origins of Language and the True Names of Things

Chapter 3. On the Origins of Language

Metaphor of the Divine The Magic of the Inexpressible Symbolic Revelation Magic and the Divine Word Reception As Translation Misinterpreting the Sign Judgment Jewish Linguistic Theory and Christian Kabbalah

Chapter 4. Gershom Scholem and the Name of God

Structure of Symbolic Mysticism The Creating Word and Unpronounceable Name Matter and Magic in the Torah and Its Letters Grammarians of the Name Microlinguistic Speculation Metaphysics of the Divine Name A Microlinguistic Science of Prophecy A Messianic Conception of Language

Part III. Justice and Redemption

Chapter 5. Prophetic Justice

On the Origins of Evil Worldly and Divine Restitution Theses on the Concept of Justice The Justice of Prophecy

Chapter 6. Judgment, Violence, and Redemption

Judaism and Revolution Violence and the Politics of Pure Means The Strike as Revolutionary Means Punishment and Fate Pacifism, Anarchism, and Violence Violence and Myth Divine Postponement, Judgment, and the Question of Violence The Righteous, the Pious, the Scholar

Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index