TY - JOUR
T1 - A Polynesian, a Jew, and a Hindu walk into Jerusalem
T2 - On Mendelssohn’s religious universalism
AU - Fogel, Jeremy
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - In his Jerusalem, Moses Mendelssohn describes a Polynesian visitor to Dessau before traveling to India by way of ancient Jerusalem. In two pages, Mendelssohn has crossed the world, doing so to argue that in spite of their cultural differences, most human beings ultimately share basic salvific religious truths. This paper explores the religious universalism reflected in this striking passage, analyzes Mendelssohn’s cultural sensitivity and pluralism, and offers a characterization of the particularities of Mendelssohn’s Jewish universalism as well as concluding thoughts on the varieties of universalism more generally.
AB - In his Jerusalem, Moses Mendelssohn describes a Polynesian visitor to Dessau before traveling to India by way of ancient Jerusalem. In two pages, Mendelssohn has crossed the world, doing so to argue that in spite of their cultural differences, most human beings ultimately share basic salvific religious truths. This paper explores the religious universalism reflected in this striking passage, analyzes Mendelssohn’s cultural sensitivity and pluralism, and offers a characterization of the particularities of Mendelssohn’s Jewish universalism as well as concluding thoughts on the varieties of universalism more generally.
KW - Cultural sensitivity
KW - Jewish universalism
KW - Mendelssohn
KW - Omai
KW - Pluralism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85095452731&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1163/1477285X-12341308
DO - 10.1163/1477285X-12341308
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AN - SCOPUS:85095452731
SN - 1053-699X
VL - 28
SP - 151
EP - 183
JO - Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy
JF - Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy
IS - 2
ER -
