Rosenzweig, Franz [key], 1886–1929, German-Jewish philosopher, b. Kassel. As a youth he was thoroughly trained in German philosophy and, after a near conversion to Christianity, dedicated himself to Jewish scholarship. His chief work, The Star of Redemption (1921; tr. of 2d ed. 1971), begun while he was a soldier in World War I, proved him to be one of the most original of modern Jewish thinkers. He drew from Orthodox, Reform, and Zionist views and created a philosophy that greatly attracted Jewish youth. Later, with his friend Martin Buber, he translated the Hebrew Scriptures into German. Other works in English include On Jewish Learning, ed. by N. N. Glatzer (1955).
See B. Martin, comp., Great Twentieth-Century Jewish Philosophers: Shestov, Rosenzweig, Buber (1969) and Franz Rosenzweig: His Life and Thought, presented by N. N. Glatzer (3d ed. 1998); studies by L. Anckaert et al., ed. (2004) and B. Pollock (2009).
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