Abstract
Jaspers idea of a grand shift in the spiritual paradigm of unrelated civilizations, located rather generously somewhere around the middle of the first millennium BC, inspired only few historians, but a closer reading reveals that Jaspers was always more concerned with what we can learn for the situation of our own time from what is generally true about our perception of antiquity. Jaspers made this argument twice, namely, in 1931 and again in 1949. The post-modern situation, globalization, and the question of how we understand human existence under these conditions are still of obvious relevance. This essay also brings Jaspers’ idea of an axial age to bear on an ongoing study of the millennial history of Jerusalem.
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Notes
- 1.
See “Jerusalem in the Religious Studies Classroom: The City and Scripture,” in Jerusalem Across the Disciplines, eds. Miriam Elman and Madeleine Adelman (at the time of this writing, August 2010, this volume is under consideration with Syracuse University Press).
- 2.
Karl Jaspers, Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte (Munich: Piper, 1949). [Henceforth cited as UZG, all translations by the author]
- 3.
See Benjamin Uffenheimer, The Origins and Diversity of Axial Age Civilizations, ed. S.N. Eisenstadt (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1986). Uffenheimer represents the Yehezkel Kaufmann school, which is still prominent in Hebrew University biblical scholarship (M. Weinberg et al.) and popular among many American biblical studies scholars. Kaufmann presented his theory in an elaborate multi-volume work on the “History of Israel’s faith” (Toldot Ha-Emunah Ha-Yisra’elit) on the basis of Hermann Cohen’s philosophy of religion and in polemic against the Wellhausen school. By Uffenheimer see further Nevu’ah Ha-Kedumah Be-Yisra’el [Early Prophecy in Israel] (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1999).
- 4.
See K. Armstrong, The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions (New York, NY: Knopf, 2006).
- 5.
Karl Jaspers, Die geistige Situation der Zeit (Berlin and Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter, 1931), appeared as volume 1000 in the popular Sammlung Göschen of “brief and generally accessible” introductions to the latest state of knowledge in all fields, a series akin to the ongoing “Very Short Introductions” published by Oxford University Press. Jaspers’ book appeared in several further printings and is referred to as a companion piece in the 1949 Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte. The theme raised in 1931 is technology and its implications for the human spirit. This remained a central concern for existentialist philosophy and was taken up by Heidegger as well.
- 6.
In his review of Peter E. Gordon’s book on Rosenzweig and Heidegger, Charles Bambach offers a significant meditation on the problem of origin and the crisis of historicism in twentieth century German thought. Though Bambach does not touch on Jaspers, the latter clearly speaks to and out of this very crisis. See Charles Bambach, “Athens and Jerusalem: Rosenzweig, Heidegger, and the Search for an Origin,” History and Theory, Vol. 44, No. 2 (May, 2005), pp. 271–288.
- 7.
Jan Assmann’s prolific oeuvre may be said to be devoted to the project of having Egypt considered as an “axial age” civilization. See, among others, J. Assmann, Ma’at: Gerechtigkeit und Unsterblichkeit im Alten Ägypten (Munich: Beck, 1995).
- 8.
On Persian religion see Carsten Colpe, Iranier–Aramäer–Hebräer–Hellenen. Iranische Religionen und ihre Westbeziehungen. Einzelstudien und Versuch einer Zusammenschau (Tübingen: Mohr, 2003). On Persian history see Josef Wiesehöfer, Ancient Persia: From 550 BC to 650 AD, trans. Azizeh Asodi (London and New York, NY: I. B. Tauris Publishers, 1996). The book includes excellent bibliographic essays.
- 9.
See Jan Assmann, Das kulturelle Gedächtnis: Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen, 6th edition (Munich: Beck, 2007).
- 10.
I cannot resist pointing out that, when speaking of ewige Aufgaben, Jaspers consciously or unconsciously echoes a phrase prominently used by Hermann Cohen.
- 11.
Source: URL http://unholycity.blogspot.com/2009/12/bad-science.html. Accessed August 9, 2010.
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Zank, M. (2012). Jaspers’ Achsenzeit Hypothesis: A Critical Reappraisal. In: Wautischer, H., Olson, A., Walters, G. (eds) Philosophical Faith and the Future of Humanity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2223-1_17
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