Betting on Democracy: The Faith of an American Jewish Pragmatist

Tue, February 23, 2021 7:00 PM - Tue, February 23, 2021 8:30 PM at Virtual

In this significant American political moment, this presentation on the thought of American Jewish philosopher Horace M. Kallen is a timely exploration of his unique and creative conception of democracy as a religion. As we now grapple with understanding what America is and who we are as a people, Kallen’s ideas resonate as a sounding board for new debates on the viability of cooperative unity as the operative condition of American society.

Rabbi Matthew Kaufman, PhD, is the author of Horace Kallen Confronts America: Jewish Identity, Science, and Secularism (Syracuse University Press, 2019). This intellectual biography traces how one man’s quest for authenticity contributed to a gradual shift in Jewish self-perception in America and reveals how Kallen’s struggle led to America’s embrace of his well-known term “cultural pluralism.” Dr. Kaufman serves as the rabbi of Congregation Kehillat Israel in Lansing, MI.

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