A Rationalized Religion? Max Weber's Theories about Judaism 1.Max Weber: The Basic facts (biography, works, knowledge of Hebrew and Jewish sources, influence and interpretation) 2. Ethic and Economics (Industrialization and Capitalism, The Jew as Capitalist, Marx on the "Jewish question:" a symbolic malencontre, Werner Sombart (1863-1941): the Jews invented capitalism, Weber: Protestants invented capitalism, Jews invented "pariah capitalism;" criticism of Sombart's and Weber's theories in light of modern researches: Jews invented no capitalism, Jews in medieval economy: money lending, usury, pawnbroking - modern fantasies and medieval realities) 3. Two Key Concepts: Rationaliserung and Entzauberung (concepts of rationalization: Habermas' reconstruction of Weber's ideas, means vs. objects of actions, reason vs. magic, the role of the prophets in Entzauberung, Weber's theory of the history of Jewish religion, Weber's dependence on late 19th century scholarship - challenging Weber I: Lacan: magic and reason as symbolic order; challenging Weber II: Richir: symbolic institution vs. phenomenal field, a new understanding of the relationship between rationalization and magic, possible applications in Jewish studies) 4. Power centers and projects of rationalizations in Ancient Israel (Weber's idea of Judaism in biblical times, critical evaluation of Weber's ideas, military, social and religious projects, cult reforms in Israel and in Judah) 5. Biblical monotheism as rationalized Judaism (theories about the birth of monotheism, royal power and prophetic critics, cultic reforms and monotheism, ancient Israelite intellectuals, an example: prophet Jeremiah) 6. Theodicy: the biblical writers (The importance Weber assigned to theodicy, Kant's ideas about teleological judgments, theodicy in ancient Mesopotamian literature, theodicy in the book of Job, theodicy in the book of Psalms and in the prophetic books) 7. Theodicy: the philosophers (Philo of Alexandria's On reward and punishment, theodicy as a problem of medieval Jewish philosophy, Sa'adyah gaon, God and fate in Arab and Andalusian Hebrew poetry, Ibn Ezra: astrology and salvation from astrological fate, Maimonides: the intellectualist paradigm, Post-Maimonidean philosophers,) 8. The creation of the world (Weber's theory of Entzauberung and transcendent god, Richir's theory of symbolic institution and l'instituant symbolique, "rationalized" world order in the Bible, the biblical God as l'instituant symbolique, Philo of Alexandria: creation as rational planning, Maimonides: creation as an action of a transcendent god) 9. Anthropomorphism (humanizing a transcendent god, anthropomorphism of gods in Plato, anthropomorphism in the Bible, the birth of the anthropomorphism problem in hellenistic Jewish philosophy, magical names and divine essences, letters as divine bodies, controversies in the Islamic period, Maimonides, an apologist of anthropomorphism: Moses Taku) 10. Ethical Monotheism (Weber's concept of Gesinnungsethik and Verantwortungsethik, the ethical component of biblical religion, the issue of sacrifices, magic and ethics, Philo of Alexandria: a theory of biblical virtues, Saadiah: free will, Maimonides: the Aristotelian agenda) 11. Rationalizing rituals (the concept of Oral Torah as rationalization, the rabbis of the Mishnah, the rabbis of the Talmud, medieval halakhic codes and metahalakhic theories, magical interpretation of halakha, mystical interpretation of halakha, the philosophers' rationalizing rituals) 12. The Resentiment issue (Nietzsche's concept of resentiment, Weber's adaptation of Nietzsche's concept, (assumed) proof texts in the Hebrew Bible, (assumed) proof texts in the Talmud, the popularity of the topic in antisemitic literature, a critique of the concept)
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