Omschrijving
In 1818, with a single essay of vast scope and stunning detail, Leopold Zunz launched the turn to history in modern Judaism. In Leopold Zunz: Creativity in Adversity, Ismar Schorsch, a distinguished scholar of German Jewish culture, has written the first full-fledged biography of this remarkable man.
"Schorsch deftly takes his readers on a journey through Zunz's scholarship, activism and apologia, but also shows how these endeavours complemented one another . . . [A] seminal biography that brings into sharper focus the complex life and career of Leopold Zunz."
"In this masterful biography, Ismar Schorsch brings to life arguably the greatest of the nineteenth-century pioneers of Jewish scholarship. The portrait of Zunz that emerges is of a deeply learned, courageous, and visionary scholar whose work remains the starting point for many areas of inquiry. We are indebted to Schorsch for this loving and critical appraisal of a true giant."
"In this gripping and elegantly written book, Ismar Schorsch illuminates not only the contours of Leopold Zunz's remarkable life and scholarship but also what was politically and intellectually at stake in the academic study of Judaism in the nineteenth century. These are issues that endure beyond their original German context, and anyone interested in Jewish Studies, modern Judaism, or the challenges of modernity more generally will learn a tremendous amount from this thoughtful study."
"Using an abundance of archival sources absent from the existing literature, Ismar Schorsch presents not only a biography of the most important figure in the nineteenth-century development of the academic study of Judaism but also an unparalleled depiction of his historical context. The book expands our understanding of both Leopold Zunz and modern Jewish Studies."
Ismar Schorsch is the Chancellor Emeritus of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Herman Abramovitz Distinguished Service Professor of Jewish History. He is the author of, among other works, Jewish Reactions to German Anti-Semitism, 1870-1914; From Text to Context: The Turn to History in Modern Judaism; Canon Without Closure: Torah Commentaries; and the editor and translator of Heinrich Graetz: The Structure of Jewish History and Other Essays.