Jewish Philosophers’ Messianic Interpretation of the New Age: Going beyond the Dichotomy of Continuity and Rupture

In its path to Enlightenment, Europe saw its historical self-consciousness in breaking with its Christian tradition and the concept of autonomy. In the twentieth century, however, and in the wake of unprecedented historical crises, the claim to autonomy and enlightenment was challenged; as a result, Europe’s relationship with Christianity once again became the subject of scrutiny and investigation. Broadly speaking, two currents of thought emerged in response to this question. The first, was to construe this new historical situation as an extension of the old era, and thus proceeded with a questioning of all its assumptions and foundations. The second response construed the contemporary crisis wholly anew and characterized their time with a form of understanding that is capable of providing answers to life-long questions. Noting the limitations of both responses, this paper asks whether theism and humanism can be reconciled. In light of this question, we examine the concept of Messianism in Jewish philosophical thought in order to step beyond the current dichotomy and argue for a third response according to which the relationship of modernity to tradition is not antagonistic. In fact, messianic ideas generate critical force and constructive hope for the modern transformative thought.