Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List of Abbreviations -- works by levinas -- works by strauss -- Preface -- Part One philosophy -- 1 Strauss and Levinas between Athens and Jerusalem -- 1.1. jewish philosophy between athens and jerusalem -- 1.2. after heidegger: maimonides between athens and jerusalem -- 1.3. the scope of philosophy -- 1.4. back to nature? -- 1.5. the philosophical return to religion or the religious turn to philosophy? -- 1.6. philosophy and the problem of evil -- 2 Levinas's Defense of Modern Philosophy: How Strauss Might Respond -- 2.1. the argument of totality and infinity -- 2.2. heidegger and husserl -- 2.3. levinas and descartes -- 2.4. the separable self and ethics or descartes once again -- 2.5. how to understand levinas's use of descartes: what strauss might say -- 2.6. the difference between levinas and strauss or on descartes yet again -- 2.7. levinas and the messianic aspirations of philosophy -- Part Two revelation -- 3 'Freedom Depends Upon Its Bondage': The Shared Debt to Franz Rosenzweig -- 3.1. levinas's reading: rosenzweig's opposition to totality -- 3.2. strauss's reading: god as wholly other -- 3.3. what to make of this difference: levinas as post-christian philosopher -- 3.4. modern philosophy and the legacy of christianity -- 4 An Irrationalist Rationalism: Levinas's Transformation of Hermann Cohen -- 4.1. future and past, inside and out -- 4.2. the shared criticism of spinoza: a case study -- 4.3. the difference between cohen and levinas: reason vs. sensibility -- 4.4. cohen, levinas, and the legacy of kant -- 5 The Possibility of Premodern Rationalism: Strauss's Transformation of Hermann Cohen -- 5.1. history and truth, outside and in -- 5.2. reading spinoza or on the necessity of historicizing philosophy.

5.3. maimonides and the possibility of premodern rationalism -- 5.4. beyond cohen? -- Part Three politics -- 6 Against Utopia: Law and Its Limits -- 6.1. philosophy, law, and the difference between judaism and christianity -- 6.2. the question of natural right -- 6.3. skepticism and antiutopianism -- 6.4. skepticism and religion -- 6.5. religion and society, or religion in america -- 7 Zionism and the Discovery of Prophetic Politics -- 7.1. the early strauss: zionism and law -- 7.2. strauss's prophetic politics out of the sources of zionism -- 7.3. levinas's zionism: from politics to religion -- 7.4. religion and politics -- 8 Politics and Hermeneutics: Strauss's and Levinas's Retrieval of Classical Jewish Sources -- 8.1. strauss's hermeneutics: esotericism, exile, and elitism -- 8.2. levinas's hermeneutic: from law to ethics -- 8.3. politics and reading -- 9 Revelation and Commandment: Strauss, Levinas, and the Theologico-Political Predicament -- 9.1. strauss and modern jewish thought: the guttmann debate -- 9.2. on not acknowledging the modern break with the jewish past -- 9.3. jewish law in america -- 9.4. the challenge of contemporary jewish thought -- 10 Concluding Thoughts: Progress or Return? -- 10.1. strauss's philosophical legacy -- 10.2. against contemporary appropriations of strauss -- 10.3. is modernity worth defending? -- Notes -- preface -- chapter 1. strauss and levinas between athens and jerusalem -- chapter 2. levinas's defense of modern philosophy: how strauss might respond -- chapter 3. 'freedom depends upon its bondage': the shared debt to franz rosenzweig -- chapter 4. an irrationalist rationalism: levinas's transformation of hermann cohen -- chapter 5. the possibility of premodern rationalism: strauss's transformation of hermann cohen -- chapter 6. against utopia: law and its limits.

chapter 7. zionism and the discovery of prophetic politics -- chapter 8. politics and hermeneutics: strauss's and levinas's retrieval of classical jewish sources -- chapter 9. revelation and commandment: strauss, levinas, and the theologico-political predicament -- chapter 10. concluding thoughts: progress or return? -- References -- Index.