Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy Fund

News & Reflections (September 2008)

Rosenstock and Rosenzweig most serious attention. “Attention,” Conference obviously, does not mean total appro- bation, which is never expected. But The conference held on the Dart- what is precisely needed now, above mouth College campus July 11 and all, after the paying of heed, is critical 12 was pathbreaking in that six of the examination, penetrating interpreta- nine presenters had never before spo- tion, and the evocation of historical ken or written a word about Rosen- context which together will fathom stock-Huessy. As we mentioned in a the depths, uncover the architecture, newsletter last year, the current flour- and test the originality of Rosen- ishing interest in Franz Rosenzweig stock’s thinking, whether one agrees in academic circles is to some degree with him or not on any question. generating interest in his close friend Rosenstock-Huessy; but much credit History must be given also to the persuasive To summarize here each of the papers powers of Prof. Susannah Heschel at presented at the conference is impos- Dartmouth, who induced colleagues sible, but phrases stand out. Rosen- near and far to pay heed to Rosen- stock-Huessy clearly believed that stock and to speak about his thought there is a universal history of man- at this gathering. kind, a structure and a direction evi- For those of us who long ago were dent in the course of many centuries captivated by Rosenstock-Huessy’s controverting Hamlet’s fear that life often astonishing insight, there is al- is no more than a tale told by an idiot ways the lingering doubt that maybe signifying nothing. The notion that we are somehow peculiar or, even humankind has a destiny is embod- worse, “true believers” who have ied in Judaism and Christianity, and abandoned their critical faculties from that source, by one means or an- when it comes to our appreciation of other, the message was disseminated this great German émigré. How reas- to the entire world. Everywhere, mi- suring it is, then, to see fresh faces on raculously, the present year is 2008, the scene, approaching Rosenstock’s and the substitution of the politically work without predilection or preju- correct c.e., if anything, emphasizes dice and finding it deserving of the even better than a.d. what has been

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achieved in two millennia of striving Education amidst unending catastrophes. The conference made evident how This subject received healthy dis- much there is yet to be said about cussion in the two days of the con- Rosenstock-Huessy’s varied and pro- ference, and the term that Prof. H. found writings on education, as it is Michael Ermarth brought forward conducted on all levels. In his first to characterize it was not the old- decade in the , Professor fashioned providentialism, or divine Rosenstock gave talks at such places design, concepts that Rosenstock as Wellesley College, to a class reunion himself never sought refuge behind. (“The Rhythm of Society: Life and Instead, it was asked whether there Learning Co-ordinated,” 1934), and at is an invisible “watermark” underly- the Shady Hill School in Cambridge, ing history. What is more subtle than Massachusetts (“Soldiers of the Im- a watermark! Who made the paper possible,” 1942), and we have among upon which the narrative is written? his works in English from that period But don’t look skyward for the an- “Man Must Teach” (ca. 1940), which swer; look inward. “Man is the ani- is available in photocopy from Argo mal who can be inspired,” to quote Books. As usual, he defies the con- Rosenstock. ventional thinking and illuminates One unexpected benefit of Pro­ and imbues with import what usually fessor Ermarth’s presentation was the passes without notice. For example: dispelling of the charge sometimes heard that Rosenstock-Huessy was “Never once does [John] Dewey tell misogynistic. Feminine contributions us why he must write his books or go on or “gifts,” Ermarth noted, are “utterly teaching. In discussing the foundations integral to the timeless existential and underlying principles of education, watermarks that suffuse all times” in the only regard he shows is for the little Rosenstock’s philosophy of history. victims of our educational activities. The teacher is happily taken for granted. That “Western man . . . includes Western he might be just as vitally affected as the woman—albeit in the background student, injured, harmed, shellshocked, or watermark sense that it is always perfected, is no concern of most educa- somehow more significant than the tional discussions. male-dominated fuss of the fore- “Does this lack of reciprocity result ground and top echelons. These rev- from the idea that a teacher is a paid em- erentially female-friendly comments ployee and that his salary is his reward? But if the pay is all he gets out of teach- recur constantly in [Rosenstock’s] ing, then teaching would be nothing writings. . . . Balancing his respect for in his life; and then, he can’t be a good the ‘warrior,’ [is] his esteem for the teacher. Nevertheless, educational the- eternal feminine.” ory modestly treats the sufferings of the

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teacher as pudenda not to be mentioned Leithart, who has the courage and the in good society. The parents, the pupils, capacity to speak informatively about the alumni, the public, are told why Rosenstock-Huessy and time, offered such and such a treatment will give the to do so. boy or girl the best possible education. A ware is sold. And this discredits our Rosenstock resented and ridiculed theories of education as advertising. the prevailing, near universal, reduc- “Any realistic approach would have tion of time to an appendage of space, to show how and why and that an adult the so-called fourth dimension. That can be induced to fool around with young description is simply a victory for the people in this business of teaching and physicists, as though they had a cor- learning, some sporadically, some pro- ner on reality. Time itself has three fessionally, but all passionately.” (“Man Must Teach,” pp. 3-4). dimensions, and “Man,” Rosenstock said, “is a peculiarly temporal being, Time ever but a pilgrim and an exile in the The nature of time was a major topic of world of space” (“Teaching Too Late, discussion in the past century—think Learning Too Early” [1940], in I Am an of Bergson or Heidegger, to mention Impure Thinker, p. 92). just two prominent philosophers—but Leithart finds Rosenstock-Huessy it is doubtful that anyone in the era nearly unique in his integration of so- made time so fundamental a factor ciological and theological accounts of in understanding God, man, and the time, and suggests that his analysis of world as Rosenstock-Huessy did. And the present, sandwiched between past some of the writing on time by philos- and future, historically so problem- ophers coming after Heidegger mask atic and misunderstood, is “the most lack of true insight into the subject fruitful philosophical insight into the with paragraphs of abstruse, and pos- nature of time,” surpassing St. Augus- sibly nonsensical, jargon. Rosenstock is tine’s famous account. luminous on the subject, not opaque. An entire book could be written Judaism Despite Christianity about Rosenstock-Huessy’s view of As planned, three papers related to time. It is basic to his thinking in ev- Franz Rosenzweig and his classic ery category. In a 40-minute presenta- correspondence with Rosenstock, tion at a conference, a speaker can, at published fifty years later as Judaism best, only touch on the matter. Time Despite Christianity (1969). Certainly for Rosenstock is after all a subject to one of the great outcomes of their ex- be considered in philosophy and the- changes over more than fifteen years, ology, in sociology, in history, in psy- by which both men were deeply in- chology, although none is disparate. fluenced, was their common realiza- We were fortunate that Prof. Peter tion that Judaism and Christianity are

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forever interlocked. The mission of is definitely one of the right words to the latter is to carry the central Jew- describe Rosenstock. Listening to him ish message to the world; the mission or reading him is always elevating and of the former is to stand permanently enhancing to human dignity because as a guardian against Christian back- so much that we ordinarily take for sliding into paganism. granted is movingly invested by him with new purpose and meaning. These passing remarks about the July To ruminate a bit, it is an illusion conference merely skim the surface, of those living at any time in his- but it is likely that some results of the tory that they are somehow self-suf- stimulus provided by the event will ficient and at the pinnacle of human be evident in scholarly journals in the achievement. In particular today, the next few years. Then one hopes for incredible progress in science and the transition from the specialized technology since the seventeenth and sometimes esoteric academic century reinforces this false notion. journals to classroom teaching, and Rosenstock-Huessy like no one else from the teaching into the minds of makes manifest our dependence on students, undergraduate and gradu- several thousand years of cultural ate, who will in time write books that and institutional inheritance, which convey to a wide audience the signfi- is mostly invisible and must be re- cance of Rosenstock-Huessy’s work. called and elucidated when needed No plans are afoot to publish as for our salvation. a group the papers from this con- What is the bedrock upon which ference. As noted, some will find even the enterprise of natural sci- their way into print individually. ence is built? Did it sprout up like a Readers desiring copies of a paper weed with no human sacrifice and should write to the author directly, via cultivation? What are its social, po- e-mail or post. litical, indeed, religious roots? “The paradoxical truth about progress, A Rumination then,” Rosenstock writes, “is that it wholly depends on the survival of Encouragement that this circula- massive institutions which prevent a tory process, from academic journal relapse from a stage which has once to general public, is underway may been reached” (Out of Revolution, p. be drawn from another memorable 31). To forget this fact is to run the phrase heard at the conference, ut- risk of undercutting the very ground tered by Prof. Donald Pease, who upon which we stand. Do the scien- characterized Rosenstock’s writing as tists themselves know what they owe “breathtakingly edifying.” “Edifying” to ancient social forces beyond their

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laboratories and controlled experi- sometimes referred to as the “Gritli ments that have nothing to do with Letters,” after Margrit’s nickname, the actual practice of science? were some time ago deposited in (not On the other hand, institutions donated to) the need renewal and must always be Library for safekeeping, with no legal open to inspired change. One of the transfer of ownership. reasons that Rosenstock-Huessy is In the past spring, Mrs. Mariot not easy to classify politically is that Huessy, the widow of Dr. Hans R. he aimed for the balance between re- Huessy, who was the son and heir specting the past while at the same of Margrit and Eugen Rosenstock- time opening the way to progress. He Huessy, decided to donate to Dart- once described himself as a “counter­ mouth all of the Rosenstock papers reactionary.” His expressed preference and the Gritli letters. This magnificent was for conservative revolutionaries or gift is made in memory of Margrit revolutionary loyalists. “Reconquest Huessy. The Board of the Rosenstock- of our era” was a favorite expression— Huessy Fund has for years longed that is, the necessity of recapturing the for this development, since it greatly contributions of the past, going all the improves the physical security of the way back to the immense creativity of papers against all hazards, and once tribal culture (from which, yes, Rosen- at Dartmouth they will be properly stock believed we still must draw sus- catalogued and made accessible for tenance). Nothing of value in the past research. is finally superseded. The reconquest That Rosenstock taught at Dart- of our era prevents us from jettisoning mouth from 1935 to 1957 makes this what we may need to navigate the fu- generous decision by Mariot Huessy ture without catastrophe. fitting. There is already at the Col- lege a collection of most of his pub- The Rosenstock-Huessy lications and other related material, Archive donated in the 1980s by the Huessy family and by Freya von Moltke. It The personal papers of Prof. Eugen is relevant, too, that when Profes- Rosenstock-Huessy have remained sor Rosenstock first arrived at Dart- more or less inaccessible in his Nor- mouth in 1935, as a recent émigré, he wich, Vermont, home since his death sold his personal library to the Col- in 1973, with the exception only of lege as a means of raising money to the over 1,000 letters by Franz Rosen- buy a house in Vermont. zweig to Rosenstock-Huessy’s wife, The papers donated to Dartmouth, Margrit Huessy. These Rosenzweig spanning the years roughly between letters, written between 1917 and 1922, 1913 and 1970, include copies of letters

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by Rosenstock-Huessy to some 225 national service corps enlisting mem- correspondents, and letters to him bers from all classes. The story of from some 325 correspondents. Al- Camp William James was recounted though the collection has not yet been in a book with that name written by catalogued, it is known that there are Jack Preiss and published in 1978 by over 4,000 pages of letters from Rosen- Argo Books. stock-Huessy to his wife Margrit, and Throughout his life, advocacy of that a number of prominent religious work service was an ongoing theme thinkers are among those addressed, for Rosenstock-Huessy, which he sum- including Karl Barth, Martin Buber, marized in a 1965 publication, long and Paul Tillich. before the subject became fashionable, Letters to Rosenstock-Huessy in Dienst auf dem Planeten—Kurzweil und the collection, aside from the names Langeweile im dritten Jahrtausend (Stutt- above, include such figures as W. H. gart). The book was translated into Auden, Max Born, Emil Brunner, Rolf English in 1978, somewhat abridged, Gardiner, Karl Lowith, Lewis Mum- as Planetary Service: A Way into the ford, , Dorothy Thompson, Third Millennium (Argo Books). J. H. van den Berg, and Alfred North Also in the collection of papers Whitehead. donated to Dartmouth are poetry and A large group of letters, to and sermons by Rosenstock-Huessy, man- from, are with Rosalind and Henry uscripts of published and privately Copley Greene, of Cambridge, Massa­ circulated works, and family history. chusetts, who assisted with the pub- It should be noted that the bulk of the lication of Rosenstock-Huessy’s first collection is in German. major book in the United States, Out A Chronological Guide to the Works of Revolution: Autobiography of Western of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy compiled Man (New York: William Morrow, by the Dutch scholar Lise van der Mo- 1938). len (Argo Books, 1997) lists over 600 The Rosenstock-Huessy Papers titles, totaling at least 35,000 pages. include substantial material related Over 400 hours of his stirring class- to Camp William James (1939-1941), room lectures at Dartmouth in the the work camp in Vermont organized 1950s have also been preserved. by Rosenstock-Huessy and a group With this acquisition, the Dart- of Dartmouth and Harvard students. mouth Library becomes the prin- The camp was intended to elevate the cipal archive in the United States Civilian Conservation Corps, intro- for the study of the life and work of duced by Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s Rosenstock-Huessy and an impor- New Deal as an economic and social tant destination, as well, for students relief program, into a model for a true of Franz Rosenzweig. There is also a

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Rosenstock-Huessy archive at Bethel particularly on American religion, he in Bielefeld, Germany. has also been for fifty years an edi- One hopes that the establishment tor of the Christian Century magazine. of the Rosenstock-Huessy Archive at He has received numberless awards Dartmouth will encourage donations including over seventy honorary de- to the College of other collections of grees. The Institute for the Advanced letters from Rosenstock that remain Study of Religion at the University in private hands. of Chicago, which Professor Marty founded, was recently renamed the Martin Marty to Speak Martin Marty Center and serves as on ERH the conference and program arm of the Divinity School. It is many months away, but read- Rosenstock has been a source of ers may want to think about visiting inspiration to Marty for decades. In Hanover, New Hampshire, on Satur- an autobiographical memoir pub- day, July 11, 2009, where Prof. Mar- lished in 1981, By Way of Response, Pro- tin E. Marty will deliver a lecture on fessor Marty recounted Rosen-stock’s Rosenstock. influence on him, and he came back to Professor Marty, now retired from that subject again two years ago in the the University of Chicago where he Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lecture taught for thirty-five years in both he delivered to the American Council the Divinity School and the History of Learned Societies. Department, is among the very most N. F.­ distinguished of American academi- cians. The author of dozens of books,

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Donations 2007

The Fund wishes to recognize and express its deepest gratitude to those who contributed to its work in 2007. The Fund is totally dependent upon contributions. The list below records donations for any purpose in the course of the year.

$10,000 up to $25,000 Bruce Boston Leo O. Harris Christina Chase Omina Freundeshilfe William Chester Frank Davidson $5,000 up to $10,000 Clinton C. Gardner Richard McFalls David Goldman Freya von Moltke R. D. Guttmann mariot Huessy $1,000 up to $5,000 Russell Keep Norman Fiering E. Christian Kopff Wim Leenman Richard M. Lee Leon C. Martel David Lewis Robert Pollard Barbara Merrill Theodore Weymouth Joseph Munshaw James Mytton $250 up to $1,000 Gottfried Paasche Frederick Berthold Paul Reist Wayne Cristaudo Burgess Standley Richard Feringer Samuel Swansen ✝ Robert Hovianseian Helmuth von Moltke michael Wells Up to $250 Frederick Williams Elizabeth B. Avery John Baldwin Bernard E. Bergesen

✝ Deceased

Inquiries should be addressed by post to Mr. Mark Huessy, ERH Fund, 88 Old Pump Road, Essex, Vermont 05452, or by e-mail to: [email protected]

ERH FUND • September 2008