Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes

650 Pages·2022·11.865 MB·English

by  Jerry Z. Muller

professor of apocalypse

Professor of Apocalypse
the many lives of
jacob taubes
Jerry Z. Muller
prince ton university press
princet on & oxford
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Muller, Jerry Z., 1954– author.
Title: Professor of apocalypse : the many lives of Jacob Taubes / Jerry Z. Muller.
Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2022] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021052969 (print) | LCCN 2021052970 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780691170596 (hardback) | ISBN 9780691231600 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Taubes, Jacob. | Jewish philosophers—Germany—Biography. |
Jewish philosophers—United States—Biography. | Philosophy—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC B3346.T284 M86 2022 (print) | LCC B3346.T284 (ebook) |
DDC 149/.94–dc23/eng/20211115
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052969
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052970
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
Editorial: Fred Appel and James Collier
Production Editorial: Kathleen Cioffi
Jacket Design: Lauren Smith
Production: Erin Suydam
Publicity: Kate Hensley and Kathryn Stevens
Copyeditor: Hank Southgate
Jacket image: Panel discussion in the Freie Universität (FU) Berlin with Richard Lowenthal,
Jacob Taubes, Herbert Marcuse, Alexander Schwan, and Dieter Claessens, July 12, 1967.
Ullstein bild— Jung / Granger. All rights reserved
This book has been composed in Miller
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of Amer ic a
10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
For Ethan and Tanaquil Taubes, for their support and patience,
and for Noam Zion, kin and kindred spirit

contents
Introduction: Why Taubes? 1
chapter 1 Yichus: Vienna, 1923–36 9
chapter 2 Coming of Age in Switzerland, 1936–47 29
chapter 3 Intellectual Roots, G rand Themes, 1941–46 52
chapter 4 Occidental Eschatology and Beyond, 1946–47 71
chapter 5 New York and the Jewish Theological
Seminary, 1947–49 99
chapter 6 Jerusalem, 1949–52 144
chapter 7 Making It? 1952–56 181
chapter 8 Columbia Years, 1956–66: The Merchant of
Ideas and the Invention of Religious Studies 236
chapter 9 Between New York and Berlin, 1961–66 264
chapter 10 Berlin: Impresario of Theory 305
chapter 11 The Apocalyptic Moment 336
chapter 12 Deradicalization and Crisis, 1969–75 355
chapter 13 A Wandering Jew: Berlin– Jerusalem– Paris,
1976–81 396
chapter 14 “Ach, ja, Taubes . . .”: A Character Sketch 445
chapter 15 Schmitt and Po liti cal Theology
Revisited, 1982–86 453
chapter 16 Final Act, 1986–87 480
[ vii ]
[ viii ] contents
chapter 17 The Afterlives of Jacob Taubes 497
Conclusion 520
Acknowl edgments  · 5 25
Abbreviations  ·  531
Notes  · 5 33
Primary Sources  · 6 13
Index  · 6 19
professor of apocalypse