Melancholic Redemption and the Hopelessness of Hope

Since late antiquity, a connection was made between Jews and the psychological state of despondency based, in part, on the link between melancholy and Saturn, and the further association of the Hebrew name of that planet, Shabbetai, and the Sabbath. The melancholic predisposition has had important a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
Main Author: Wolfson, Elliot R. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2022
In: The journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
Year: 2022, Volume: 30, Issue: 1, Pages: 130-171
Further subjects:B Nothingness
B nocturnality
B Messianism
B Melancholia
B Death
B Mourning
B Nihilism
B insomnia
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Summary:Since late antiquity, a connection was made between Jews and the psychological state of despondency based, in part, on the link between melancholy and Saturn, and the further association of the Hebrew name of that planet, Shabbetai, and the Sabbath. The melancholic predisposition has had important anthropological, cosmological, and theological repercussions. In this essay, I focus on various perspectives on melancholia in thinkers as diverse as Kafka, Levinas, Blanchot, Rosenzweig, Benjamin, Bloch, Scholem, and Derrida. A common thread that links these thinkers is the hopelessness of hope imparted by the messianic belief in a future that must be perpetually deferred.
ISSN:1477-285X
Contains:Enthalten in: The journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/1477285X-12341330