Jerusalem: Or, On Religious Power and Judaism Book

Mendelssohn was the leading philosopher of the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. Jerusalem is one of the most significant works about the relationship between religion and the state in the European tradition of political philosophy, but it is rarely read as such, because it has (rather irritatingly and condescendingly) been defined as a part of the history of Jewish thought only -- despite the fact that Mendelssohn engages with the arguments of Hobbes and Locke, and conducted a correspondence with Kant about the nature of rational religion. Mendelssohn attempts two different projects in the book: first, he advances a new account of the complex interrelationships among individual liberty, state power, and the entitlements of religious communities, arguing for broad toleration for minority speech and religious conduct. He improves on Locke's account in many respects (particularly by recognizing that individual freedom is at risk from religious organizations as well as from the state). Second, he offers an account of Judaism as a religion based upon respect for each person's rational autonomy. Particularly interesting is Mendelssohn's claim that an established church makes us "unrecognizable to one another" by removing difference and disagreement about ultimate values, so clearly a hallmark of our humanity. - Martha Nussbaum