Tradition and revelation in F.J. Molitor’s philosophy of history

Abstract

The article analyzes the attempt to create a holistic doctrine of the historical process, un­dertaken by the German philosopher and Hebraist Franz Joseph Molitor (1779–1860). Molitor’s views, expressed in his major work, “The Philosophy of History, or On Tradi­tion” (1827–1857), were based both on the philosophical ideas of Schelling and the con­cepts of Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah). An expert in Hebrew and Aramaic, Molitor de­voted most of his life to the study of Judaism and Kabbalah. He views human history as part of a universal sacred history, the core element of which is revelation as a continuous, ongoing process. The scientific study of history, according to Molitor, becomes possible thanks to the presence of a reliable tradition manifested in the cultural heritage of many peoples and preserved in its purest form in Kabbalah. Using ideas drawn from Jewish re­ligious, philosophical, and mystical writings, Molitor rethinks the place of Christianity and Judaism in human history and culture, believing that Christian theology cannot achieve its goals without a serious engagement with the tradition of Jewish mysticism. The appendices to the article contain a short biography of Molitor and fragments of a Russian translation of his book from the mid-19th century, preserved in the Manu­script Department of the Russian State Library, as well as a translation of several letters from Molitor, Schelling, and Baader related to work on the “Philosophy of History” and its religious and philosophical ideas.