Volume 29, Issue 2 - Themenheft Constantin Brunner (1862–1937)

The essay is meant to be an introduction to both Brunner’s life and work. It follows Brunner’s development from a young man, deeply rooted in Jewish orthodoxy, to a secular thinker who made his own original contribution to modern philosophy. In his basic and most important work, Die Lehre von den Geistigen und vom Volk , he develops a quite innovative theory of our »relative« world perception, which is on a par with Einstein’s theory of relativity. In his attempt to define the unifying experience of true reality in the faculty of »spiritual thinking« Brunner sheds a new light on the figure of Jesus Christ by making him a representative of a new secular spirituality. But Brunner is also portrayed as an enlightened political thinker, a partisan of Jewish emancipation and a fierce critic of antisemitism, whose criticism of Zionism made him a controversial figure inside the Jewish community.

»Jewishness« and »Jewish identity«, two of the most controversial concepts inside and outside the Jewish community, are center stage in Constantin Brunner’s thinking. Although he regarded religion as »superstition«, he himself was deeply rooted in religious traditions and the issue of Jewishness plays an important part in all of his works. Brunner is concerned with all questions traditionally related to Jewishness: the question of race and ethnicity, of religion and the question of Jewishness as historical heritage. In contrast to some of his prominent contemporaries, Martin Buber for instance, Brunner does not link »Jewishness« to race or ethnic heritage, but to cultural tradition. In the »spirit of Judaism« he finds the roots of his own mystical and spiritual thinking. On the political and social level, Brunner rejects the concept of a Jewish nation. A fervent advocate of assimilation, he saw himself not as a »Jewish« but as a »German« citizen of Jewish descent.

This biographical essay is designed to give a survey of Constantin Brunnerʼs early years, from his childhood and youth until the end of his student days, based on the available letters, manuscripts and published writings. A major focus is on Brunnerʼs intellectual development from protected child, spiritually shaped by Jewish orthodoxy, to aspiring religious scholar and finally to the secular philosopher known today. The article is therefore a contribution to a range of research topics: to the field of German-Jewish biography during the period of the German Empire; but also to the history of ideas, particularly in relation to the secularization of religious minorities. It also touches upon developments inside the Jewish community: the way different intellectual and religious currents are related to each other, the informal networks between Jewish intellectuals and how national (German or Jewish) identity is related to the Jewish self-image.

Constantin Brunner studied Judaism from a multitude of sources. The originality of his interpretation of Prophetic Judaism is based, however, on his philosophical concept of »spiritual thinking«, one of the three faculties of his »Fakultätenlehre«. True biblical prophets in the tradition of Moses should, according to Brunner, therefore be considered as »spiritual« geniuses. In his view, the Bible is a collective work of Jewish prophetism which includes Jesus as a late-born prophet. The three traditional monotheistic religions, on the other hand, are seen as more or less distorted versions of Prophetic Judaism. The article discusses Brunner’s approach to authentic biblical prophecy, based on words and acts of Jeremiah, Esaias, Amos and other prophets, focussing on the sources of their prophetic inspiration and on their role in the society of their time. Brunner argues that Prophetic Judaism could play an important role even today by challenging the values of our time.

The concept of God plays a prominent role in both Constantin Brunner’s and Martin Buber’s writings. In the way they treated this subject there are similarities, but also some striking differences. Both thinkers saw their philosophy as an attempt to explain the Absolute (Brunner) or God (Buber). Both were influenced by the philosophy of Spinoza and the tradition of mysticism. The crucial difference between Brunner and Buber is that Buber thinks of God as a person with whom a personal relationship is possible. Brunner, on his part, rejects any form of anthropomorphism and thinks of God as the Absolute, as an impersonal, unifying principle. Both interpretations point to a different understanding of religion and Judaism. For Brunner, Buber’s concept of God was an example of »superstition«, whereas Buber would have argued that Brunner does not understand the role of the Jewish God as a partner in dialogue.

In 1904, Constantin Brunner called Gustav Landauer the »most important exponent of anarchism in Germany«. In 1911, Landauer admired Brunner as »one of the most powerful thinkers« he knew. From 1903 until 1911 the two of them developed an intense intellectual friendship, sharing an interest in epistemology, mysticism and the philosophy of Spinoza. Their practical philosophies diverged quite substantially however. While Brunner believed in an anthropological divide within humankind, Landauer strove to integrate humankind on the basis of a spiritual renewal. The article attempts to outline their relationship and provide some clues as to what was at stake in the conflict that ended it.

How did the controversial philosopher Constantin Brunner come to collaborate with the largest Jewish association in Germany, the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens ? And why did they dissolve in 1931? The article examines the multi-layered relationship between Brunner and the Centralverein between 1920 and 1931 on the basis of related publications, public debates, and the available internal correspondence and association files. Mutual expectations as well as political and ideological similarities between the association and the philosopher are discussed, as are points of conflict. Topics such as the defense against anti-Semitism and Brunnerʼs analysis of anti-Semitism are touched upon, as are debates on Jewish identity and the related question of the extent to which the Jewish population should be absorbed in non-Jewish society.

The article analyses Brunner’s attitude towards Zionism from the time when he conceived »Der Judenhass und die Juden«, focussing on his writings on Antisemitism and on questions of German-Jewish belonging. There is something remarkable about the historical moment when Brunner engaged with the question of Antisemitism. Whereas the rise of Antisemitism in the 1870 s prompted a number of Jewish public reactions and analyses, there was a visible decline in their number after the turn of the century. On the other hand, it was by no means extraordinary that Brunner connected his critical reflections on anti-Jewish sentiments with a negative attitude towards Zionism. The radicalism of his position becomes evident, however, in the fact that he treated both the hatred of Jews and Zionism as just two aspects of the same tragedy. While after 1912 his explicit anti-Zionism was, to a certain degree, shared by many members of the »Centralverein«, his position with respect to nation and nationhood tended towards the more radical views of Max Naumann, who associated Jewish identity with German nationalism.

Even before, in May 1933, the new Nazi regime in Germany began to ostracize, and burn the books of, so-called »un-German« authors, Constantin Brunner went into exile in The Hague. That he decided to go to the Netherlands is not surprising. The Netherlands were the homeland of Baruch de Spinoza, whose thinking is the most important influence on Brunner’s philosophical work. In The Hague he continued his philosophical studies and exchanged opinions and countless letters with friends, companions and followers in all corners of the world. But although Constantin Brunner was out of harm’s way and was, even in exile and far from home, able to dedicate himself wholly to his work, his health declined rapidly. He died on August 27, 1937. But his work has survived in The Hague where, in 1947, Magdalena Kasch founded the »Internationaal Brunner Instituut«.