Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The politics of immortality in Rosenzweig, Barth and Goldberg : Theology and resistance between 1914-1945

Björk, Mårten LU (2022)
Abstract

Highlighting the central importance of theological configurations of immortality and eternal life from 1914-1945, Mårten Björk explores the key writings of Franz Rosenzweig, Karl Barth and Oskar Goldberg to situate their ideas in relation to the political turmoil of the period, including the rise of social Darwinism, nationalism and fascism. The conversations happening among Christian and Jewish theologians and philosophers on the nature of immortality and eternal life during the period constitute what Björk calls a 'politics of immortality'. The speculative question of eternal life became a way to address the meaning of 'a good life' in a period when millions of lives were lost to war, camps and prisons. This book shows how theology... (More)

Highlighting the central importance of theological configurations of immortality and eternal life from 1914-1945, Mårten Björk explores the key writings of Franz Rosenzweig, Karl Barth and Oskar Goldberg to situate their ideas in relation to the political turmoil of the period, including the rise of social Darwinism, nationalism and fascism. The conversations happening among Christian and Jewish theologians and philosophers on the nature of immortality and eternal life during the period constitute what Björk calls a 'politics of immortality'. The speculative question of eternal life became a way to address the meaning of 'a good life' in a period when millions of lives were lost to war, camps and prisons. This book shows how theology was related to central political concepts and ideas of the era, revealing how the question of immortality pursued by Rosenzweig, Barth and Goldberg became a way to resist the reduction of life to race, blood and soil. By situating the exact political consequences of theological and metaphysical theories of immortality and eternal life, Björk's discussion of Rosenzweig, Barth and Goldberg confronts the perennial question on the relation between life and death and exposes the important connections between political theology and philosophical posthumanism.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
published
subject
pages
274 pages
publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85188229367
ISBN
9781350228238
9781350228221
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © Mårten Björk, 2022. All rights reserved.
id
ea24bbe4-1145-4922-a0ae-0cf6c392d5a5
date added to LUP
2024-04-02 11:15:19
date last changed
2024-04-16 13:02:01
@book{ea24bbe4-1145-4922-a0ae-0cf6c392d5a5,
  abstract     = {{<p>Highlighting the central importance of theological configurations of immortality and eternal life from 1914-1945, Mårten Björk explores the key writings of Franz Rosenzweig, Karl Barth and Oskar Goldberg to situate their ideas in relation to the political turmoil of the period, including the rise of social Darwinism, nationalism and fascism. The conversations happening among Christian and Jewish theologians and philosophers on the nature of immortality and eternal life during the period constitute what Björk calls a 'politics of immortality'. The speculative question of eternal life became a way to address the meaning of 'a good life' in a period when millions of lives were lost to war, camps and prisons. This book shows how theology was related to central political concepts and ideas of the era, revealing how the question of immortality pursued by Rosenzweig, Barth and Goldberg became a way to resist the reduction of life to race, blood and soil. By situating the exact political consequences of theological and metaphysical theories of immortality and eternal life, Björk's discussion of Rosenzweig, Barth and Goldberg confronts the perennial question on the relation between life and death and exposes the important connections between political theology and philosophical posthumanism.</p>}},
  author       = {{Björk, Mårten}},
  isbn         = {{9781350228238}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.}},
  title        = {{The politics of immortality in Rosenzweig, Barth and Goldberg : Theology and resistance between 1914-1945}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}