In his essay Das neue Denken (1925), Franz Rosenzweig warns against the "danger of understanding the new thinking in the sense, or rather the nonsense, of ‘irrational’ tendencies such as, for example, the ‘philosophy of life.’

Introduction ......................................................................................................... 11 Three Spheres. Three Epochs. Three Ways .............................................. 17 Antiquity ............................................................................................................... 18 Middle Ages ......................................................................................................... 19 Modernity ............................................................................................................. 20 Reduction ............................................................................................................. 22 Three Ways ........................................................................................................... 25 The First Way: Hegel ......................................................................................... 29 Two Attitudes of Thought .................................................................................. 30 Hegel’s Attitude of Thought ................................................................................ 33 The Three Spheres in Hegel’s Philosophy ......................................................... 35 The Divine ....................................................................................................... 36 The Natural-Worldly ...................................................................................... 38 The Human ...................................................................................................... 39 Hegel and Rosenzweig ........................................................................................ 41 The Second Way: Nietzsche ........................................................................... 47 Nietzsche’s Irrationalism for Rosenzweig ......................................................... 49 Against Values and Hierarchies ......................................................................... 50 Nietzsche and Hegel ............................................................................................ 54 The Three Spheres in Nietzsche’s Philosophy .................................................. 57 The Divine ....................................................................................................... 58 The Natural-Worldly ...................................................................................... 60 The Human ...................................................................................................... 61Nietzsche and Rosenzweig ................................................................................. 62 The Third Way: Rosenzweig .......................................................................... 69 Rosenzweig Versus Idealism I: Elements ......................................................... 70 Beyond the Human ........................................................................................ 71 Beyond the Natural-Worldly ......................................................................... 74 Beyond the Divine .......................................................................................... 75 Rosenzweig Versus Idealism II: Nothingness and Irrationality .................... 77 Nothingness ..................................................................................................... 78 Irrationality ...................................................................................................... 81 Rosenzweig Versus Irrationalism ...................................................................... 83 Trendelenburg ................................................................................................. 84 Kierkegaard ..................................................................................................... 87 Nietzsche .......................................................................................................... 90 Truth as Relation ................................................................................................. 92 Ex Negativo ..................................................................................................... 93 Ex Positivo ....................................................................................................... 95 Theory and Praxis .............................................................................................. 100 The Three Spheres in Rosenzweig’s ‘New Thinking’ ......................... 103 The Divine .......................................................................................................... 104 The Natural-Worldly ......................................................................................... 110 The Human ......................................................................................................... 117 Between and Beyond Hegel and Nietzsche .................................................... 135 The Three Paths in Rosenzweig’s ‘New Thinking’ .............................. 139 Explicit References and Implicit Analogies ................................................... 141 ‘Quod sit’ and ‘Quid sit’ in Der Stern der Erlosung ....................................... 149 Between God and World: The Path of Creation ............................................ 154 The Creator: Divine Power .......................................................................... 155The Creature: Worldly Existence ................................................................ 158 Rosenzweig Versus Hegel: Creation Versus Production ......................... 161 Rosenzweig Versus Nietzsche: Creation Versus Eternal Return ............ 165 A Keyword for Creation: ‘Relational Otherness’ ...................................... 168 Between God and Human Being: The Path of Revelation ........................... 170 The Revealer: Divine Love ........................................................................... 171 The Recipient of Revelation: Human Humility ........................................ 174 Revelation as Cornerstone of Reality ......................................................... 177 Rosenzweig Versus Hegel: Revelation Versus Dialectical Logic ............. 178 Rosenzweig Versus Nietzsche: Revelation Versus Disconnection ......... 182 A Keyword for Revelation: ‘Event’ .............................................................. 184 Between Human Being and World: The Path of Redemption ..................... 186 The Agent of Redemption: Human Neighbor-Love ................................. 188 The Context of Redemption: Worldly Life ................................................ 191 Redemption: Communality and Eternity .................................................. 194 Rosenzweig Versus Hegel: Redemptive Praxis Versus Self-Reflection and Theory ................................................................ 196 Rosenzweig Versus Nietzsche: Redemptive Praxis Versus Gift-Giving Virtue .............................................................................. 201 A Keyword for Redemption: ‘Oriented Praxis’ ......................................... 203 Beyond Philosophy: The ‘New Thinking’ as Jewish .......................... 207 Creation: Relational Otherness – Bereshit 1 .................................................. 212 Revelation: Event – Shir ha-Shirim ................................................................. 215 Redemption: Oriented Praxis – Psalm 115 and Tiqqun ............................... 217 Final Remarks .................................................................................................... 221 A Third Way between Idealism and Irrationalism ........................................ 221 A Third Way between Philosophy and Jewish Thought ............................... 227 ‘Otherness’ in Philosophy and in Jewish Thought .................................... 228 ‘Event’ in Philosophy and in Jewish Thought ........................................... 230 Praxis’ in Philosophy and in Jewish Thought ........................................... 232 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 236 Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 239