Jewish Cryptotheologies of Late Modernity

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Jewish Cryptotheologies of Late Modernity: Philosophical Marranos by Agata Bielik-Robson is a rich and provocative exploration of Jewish thought and its covert influence on modern philosophy, especially in the context of secularization and atheism. Bielik-Robson introduces the concept of philosophical Marranos—a metaphor drawing from the historical experience of Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity but secretly maintained their Jewish faith and practices. She applies this concept to describe modern philosophers who, while outwardly adopting secular, atheistic, or even Christian philosophical frameworks, continue to carry an inner, often hidden, allegiance to Jewish theological concerns and ideas. In this book, Bielik-Robson traces the trajectory of Jewish thought through key modern and late-modern philosophers, arguing that the legacy of Jewish theology survives in the cryptic form within their secular discourses. These thinkers, she contends, maintain a covert engagement with the central themes of Judaism: messianism, the ethics of responsibility, creation and redemption, and the singularity of the subject. However, they often disguise these theological underpinnings in ostensibly secular language, masking their "Jewishness" much like the historical Marranos concealed their faith. The book focuses on figures such as Franz Rosenzweig, Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, Jacques Derrida, and Emmanuel Levinas—philosophers who grapple with questions of messianic hope, redemption, and justice, often through a language that appears secular but is, at its core, deeply theological. Bielik-Robson delves into how these thinkers embody a kind of Jewish crypto-theology by continuing the Judaic project of resisting totality, idolatry, and final closure—insisting instead on openness, difference, and the infinite demand of the Other. One of the central arguments is that Jewish thought, far from being an outdated relic of pre-modern religiosity, has a powerful and ongoing role in shaping modernity's philosophical and ethical imagination. Bielik-Robson suggests that these "Marrano" philosophers subvert the apparent secular consensus by inserting into it a theological kernel that remains unassimilated and disruptive. The book also engages critically with Christian philosophy and its dominance in Western metaphysics, presenting Jewish thought as an alternative tradition that resists closure and offers a radically different understanding of concepts such as time, law, and subjectivity. Bielik-Robson's scholarship is sophisticated, weaving together theology, philosophy, and cultural theory, and her writing invites readers to reconsider the hidden theological dimensions within modern secular thought. In Jewish Cryptotheologies of Late Modernity, Bielik-Robson challenges the boundaries between secular and religious, philosophy and theology, and brings forward a nuanced discussion on how Jewish thought continues to unsettle and inspire the philosophical landscape of modernity. This work is essential for scholars interested in Jewish philosophy, critical theory, political theology, and the intersection of religion and modern philosophical traditions.