A Secular Tradition
- This article focuses on the social philosopher Horace Kallen and the revisions he made to the concept of cultural pluralism that he first developed in the early 20th century, applying it to postwar America and the young State of Israel. It shows how he opposed the assumption that the United States’ social order was based on a “Judeo-Christian tradition.” By constructing pluralism as a civil religion and carving out space for secular self-understandings in midcentury America, Kallen attempted to preserve the integrity of his earlier political visions, developed during World War I, of pluralist societies in the United States and Palestine within an internationalist global order. While his perspective on the State of Israel was largely shaped by his American experiences, he revised his approach to politically functionalizing religious traditions as he tested his American understanding of a secular, pluralist society against the political theology effective in the State of Israel. The trajectory of Kallen’s thought points to fundamentalThis article focuses on the social philosopher Horace Kallen and the revisions he made to the concept of cultural pluralism that he first developed in the early 20th century, applying it to postwar America and the young State of Israel. It shows how he opposed the assumption that the United States’ social order was based on a “Judeo-Christian tradition.” By constructing pluralism as a civil religion and carving out space for secular self-understandings in midcentury America, Kallen attempted to preserve the integrity of his earlier political visions, developed during World War I, of pluralist societies in the United States and Palestine within an internationalist global order. While his perspective on the State of Israel was largely shaped by his American experiences, he revised his approach to politically functionalizing religious traditions as he tested his American understanding of a secular, pluralist society against the political theology effective in the State of Israel. The trajectory of Kallen’s thought points to fundamental questions about the compatibility of American and Israeli understandings of religion’s function in society and its relation to political belonging, especially in light of their transnational connection through American Jewish support for the recently established state.…
Author details: | Imanuel Clemens Schmidt |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-532868 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-53286 |
ISBN: | 978-3-86956-520-0 |
ISSN: | 1614-6492 |
ISSN: | 1862-7684 |
Title of parent work (English): | PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany |
Title of parent work (German): | PaRDeS : Zeitschrift der Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien |
Subtitle (English): | Horace Kallen on American Democracy in the United States and Israel |
Publisher: | Universitätsverlag Potsdam |
Place of publishing: | Potsdam |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2021/12/02 |
Publication year: | 2021 |
Publishing institution: | Universität Potsdam |
Publishing institution: | Universitätsverlag Potsdam |
Release date: | 2022/01/04 |
Tag: | 20. Jahrhundert; Geistesgeschichte; Horace Kallen; Israel; USA; kultureller Pluralismus; moderne jüdische Geschichte 20th century; Horace Kallen; Israel; United States; cultural pluralism; intellectual history; modern Jewish history |
Issue: | 27 |
First page: | 85 |
Last Page: | 100 |
Source: | PaRDeS / Heft 27 (2021) / ISBN 978-3-86956-520-0, S. 85-100 |
RVK - Regensburg classification: | BD 1680 |
Organizational units: | Extern / Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien e. V. |
Extern / Extern | |
DDC classification: | 2 Religion / 20 Religion / 200 Religion |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Universitätsverlag Potsdam |
Open Access / Gold Open-Access | |
Collection(s): | Universität Potsdam / Zeitschriften / PaRDeS : Zeitschrift der Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien e.V., ISSN 1862-7684 / PaRDeS (2021) 27 / Articles |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |