K.H. Miskotte’s Efforts toward a Renewed Relationship with Judaism

Abstract

K.H. Miskotte’s dissertation on The Essence of Judaism (1932) at once involved constructing a phenomenological Wesensschau, preparation for Jewish-Christian encounter, and engagements in intra-Protestant disputes. Around the Second World War, Miskotte’s writings simultaneously showed unconditional solidarity with the persecuted Jewish people and warned against Jewish influences on Protestantism. At the end of his life, Miskotte reflected with distress on the book of Rabbi Ignaz Maybaum, The Face of God after Auschwitz, and he returned to his initial judgment on liberal Judaism.