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Home , Johann Gottfried Herder, Reason

: THE VOLK AND THE JEWS

The idea of the ‘national ’ of a people is more than anything else the contribution of Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803). This would prove both positive and negative to the view on Jews and Judaism. In the same vein as the deists, Enlightenment used morals as the yardstick for examining different . Universal- ism, and unity of across borders of and all belonged to the basic religious values, and Jews and Judaism were examined accordingly. Thus, as noted earlier, Enlightenment theologians often defended emancipation of the Jews, despite their often prejudiced view of them. With came a new interest in nation and nationality, the other side of this coin a growing German national chauvinism. The ideological ferment of such political movements can be traced back to early Romanticism,1 when the struggle for a united nation became a matter of urgency for the intelligentsia. Thus central notions that were used in ’s national struggle, such as particularism and universalism, were transferred to the evaluation of the Jews in the New Testament and in general. Jews represented particularism, whereas Western Christian people stood for universalism. Herder is often considered one of the most important fathers of both Romanticism and liberal or Enlightenment theology.2 His Romanti- cism is seen as a counter-rationalistic reaction to the Enlightenment, although this reaction only concerned rationalistic Enlightenment. Taking on board and developing the Enlightenment ideas of his time, Herder added important new aspects, strongly fi ghting mere and creating his own synthesis. The components stem from the rational,

1 See George L. Mosse, The Crisis of German . Origins of the Third Reich (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1964), 1–30. Mosse primarily discusses the Kaiserreich, but points to the beginnings of a fully developed völkisch thinking in early Romanticism. 2 Hans-Wolf Jäger, “Herder, Johann Gottfried”, in Neue deutsche Bibliographie, heraus- geben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1969), 602. 52 part i. enlightenment and the jews humanistic Enlightenment and from Romanticism,3 with key being , humanity, and a theological stance far removed from the old Protestantism of his country.4 As a result of his historiographical studies on the world’s national , Herder pioneered the view of the peoples as being organic, each having their own life and spirit. In his Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit, 1787, he discusses all known peoples, developing the idea of a national spirit.5 Such a spirit expresses itself in , , and social life. Using concepts like ‘national spirit’ (‘Nationalgeist’), ‘genius of the people’ (Genius des Volkes), etc.,6 Herder portrays a national Volk with a mentality, and mission that is peculiar to that people, i.e. the German people. However, it is important to note that ‘’ at the time of Herder was radical rather than chauvinistic. Herder himself cherished the French , being a cosmopolitan and not holding one nation to be better than another.7

Herder on the Jews

Herder’s new nationalism would prove both positive and negative to his view on the Jews. The word Volk (‘people’), which referred to the geographical circumstances as well as inner characteristics of a people, became an ideologically loaded concept. Herder believed that this national spirit was given by during creation and that it was a great to rob a nation of its national character, language and peculiar- ity of spirit.8 The spirit of a nation shaped its and governed its ethos, and so Herder did not approve of outside interference in a

3 See Matthias Schmitz, “Herder, Johann Gottfried”, in Metzler-Philosophen-Lexikon. Dreihundert biographisch-werkgeschichtliche Porträts von den Vorsokratikern bis zu den Neuen Phi- losophen, ed. Bernd Lutz (Stuttgart: J. B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1989). Through listening to Rousseau and through his with J. G. Hamann, Herder encountered liberal ideas and literature that would become important to his develop- ment, Jäger, “Herder, Johann Gottfried”. 4 Jäger, “Herder, Johann Gottfried”, 602. 5 Johann Gottfried Herder, Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit, vol. 3 ( und Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, 1787). 6 Wolfgang Tilgner, Volksnomostheologie und Schöpfungsglaube. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Kirchenkampfes, ed. Kurt Dietrich Schmidt, vol. 16, Arbeiten zur Geschichte des Kirchenkampfes (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1966), 18–19. 7 Jäger, “Herder, Johann Gottfried”, 602. 8 Tilgner, Volksnomostheologie und Schöpfungsglaube, 21–22.