Political Theology Unit, Religion in Europe Unit, and Schleiermacher Unit

Jewish Enlightenment, National Identity, and Modern Christian Thought 

Modern Jewish and modern Christian thought have developed in close interaction, mutually influencing one another's understandings not only of ethics, revelation, and religious community, but also emerging conceptions of national identity. With an eye toward the AAR's 2023 theme of La Labor de Nuestras Manos and the need for revisiting public understandings of religion, this session invites paper or panel proposals reflecting on points of ongoing dialogue, divergence, and debate regarding the Jewish and Protestant Enlightenments and emerging notions of nationalism in modern Jewish and Christian thought, pertaining not only to the US but also to European contexts. Such proposals might consider: 

• Jewish and Christian conceptions of national identity and the modern state, especially within or in comparison to European contexts
• The Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) and national identity
• The mutual influence between the Haskalah and modern Christian thought (including the thought of Friedrich Schleiermacher)
• The persistence of antisemitism in contemporary politics, in overt and implicit forms
• The relevance of modern Jewish and Christian thought for understanding white nationalism today