From: "Tobin Nellhaus" <nellhaus-AT-gis.net>
Subject: BHA: Religious sensibility??
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 18:58:24 -0400


Hi Mervyn and Sean--

The meaning of the phrase "religious sensibility" may seem obvious, but I'm
not sure it is, particularly when applied to someone like Marx.  Or me.  I'm
a "secular Jew": not devout, not a believer in God, but still
self-identified as Jewish, and that culture is part of my way of looking at
things.  In that sense, I have a (specifically Jewish) religious
sensibility, but without a theological commitment.  This possibility derives
in part from the fact that "being Jewish" is a lot more than professing a
particular theology -- unlike the various Protestantisms, in which
conversion is more important than enculturation.  For Protestantism, it's
something of a contradiction for someone to claim to be (say) a Baptist
while rejecting core Baptist beliefs; it's not such a contradiction for
Jews.  (Catholics are somewhere in between: one can be a "lapsed Catholic.")
I think it's reasonable to suggest that Marx, as (if I remember right) the
son of a Jew converted to Lutheranism, could have obtained such a
sensibility through family culture while rejecting religion (as such)
itself, since in general cultural attitudes and styles can long outlive
professed beliefs.  Certainly I've felt that elements of Marx's ideas and
writing maintained a Jewish cultural sense (like his dark sense of humor).
In short, I think it's possible for *both* of you to be correct, but
regarding different aspects of Marx's views.  So it's important to consider
that you may be responding in different ways to things that sit ambivalently
in the first place (or perhaps, do so if you're an "outsider").  In any
case, I don't think it's very useful to speak of a "religious sensibility"
without specifying the meaning of "sensibility," and perhaps naming the
religion you have in mind.

While I'm at it, I'd like to mention that I'm rather irritated by Bhaskar's
glib dismissal of Judaism (FEW p 77-78).  Among other things, it reeks of
the long rancid characterizations of Judaism as a "primitive" religion,
worlds apart from "us" more "civilized" Christian Europeans.  (Old joke:
Journalist to Ghandi: "Mr. Ghandi, what do you think of Western
civilization?"  Ghandi: "That would be nice.")  Personally, I think RB
hasn't a clue.

T.

---
Tobin Nellhaus
nellhaus-AT-mail.com
"Faith requires us to be materialists without flinching": C.S. Peirce





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