God is the Reason: Hermann Cohen's Monotheism and the Liberal Theologico‐Political Predicament

Abstract

AbstractThis article presents Hermann Cohen's Ethical Monotheism as an epistemological rejoinder to the theologico‐political predicament of liberalism in Wilhelmine Germany (1871‐1918). Beginning with an intellectual historical portrait of liberal Protestantism as a diffuse cultural context rather than a defined ideology, the article then proceeds to explicate Cohen's “liberal” Jewish conception of an epistemological “God‐idea” as a defense against the antisemitic and essentializing thought of Paul de Lagarde. The article then concludes by suggesting that Cohen's interpretation of the Noahide presents a Jewish minority account of “God” as a basis for “secular” public morality in a hyper‐contested public sphere.