Questioning Judaism: Interviews by Elisabeth Weber

In the wake of the Dreyfus affair and the Shoah, many French intellectuals have maintained rich and complex relationships with Judaism, beyond as well as within the religious dimension. Whether they approach it via history, philosophy, biblical studies or sociology, many contemporary intellectuals are deeply involved in Jewish culture. This volume presents the meditations of seven well-known French thinkers, interviewed at length by Elisabeth Weber, on the special relations of their own intellectual pursuit to Judaism. As memory or as the place of circumfession (In Jacques Derrida’s words), as the symbol of the unrepresentable (Jean-Francois Lyotard) or as the witness (according to Emmanuel Levinas) to a biblical humanity, Judaism is continually engaged in renewing and displacing contemporary thought. The volume includes interviews with Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Jacques Derrida, Rita Thalmann, Emmanuel Levinas, Leon Poliakov, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and Franz Rosenzweig.