LEO BAECK: Teacher Of Theresienstadt

by Albert H. Friedlander ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 17, 1968

This is the first study of Leo Baeck, the Jewish theologian who has exercised a strong influence on both Jewish and Christian thought. The book is at once a biographical Work and a critical one, covering as it does both aspects of its subject. Baeck had the unhappy distinction of being the leader of the German Jewish community in the thirties; as might be expected, he spent many years in a concentration camp (Theresienstadt), where he continued to function as rabbi and teacher. Miraculously, he survived the experience and lived to emigrate to the United States. The major part of the book, however, is properly devoted to an analysis of Baeck's thought rather than of his life, beginning with the anti-Harnackian polemic and continuing through Baeck's examination of the significance of Judaism, its relationship to Christianity, etc., With a particularly revelatory chapter on Baeck's intriguingly subtle ""religion of polarity."" By the nature of its subject as well as of its treatment, Leo Baeck is a book for the scholar or the serious student of theology; to that audience, it will be a work of the first importance.

Pub Date: Nov. 17, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION