Rosenzweig Franz (1886–1929), German philosopher and Jewish theologian known as one of the founders of religious existentialism. His early relation to Judaism was tenuous, and at one point he came close to converting to Christianity. A religious experience in a synagogue made him change his mind and return to Judaism. His chief philosophic works are a two-volume study, Hegel and the State (1920), and his masterpiece, The Star of Redemption (1921).
Rosenzweig’s experience in World War I caused him to reject absolute idealism on the ground that it cannot account for the privacy and finality of death. Instead of looking for a unifying principle behind existence, Rosenzweig starts with three independent realities ‘given’ in experience: God, the self, and the world. Calling his method ‘radical empiricism,’ he explains how God, the self, and the world are connected by three primary relations: creation, revelation, and redemption. In revelation, God does not communicate verbal statements but merely a presence that calls for love and devotion from worshipers.
See also EXISTENTIALISM , JEWISH PHILOSO- PH. K.See.