Philosophie der Geschichte oder uber die Tradition
Johann Franz Molitor (1779-1860) was a Christian German author and philosopher who taught Hebrew, Aramaic and Talmud, and dealt in kabbalistic research, a field that was unknown to many philosophers of his time. He started his career studying law, and became interested in philosophical writings. He authored Ideen zu einer künftigen Dynamik der Geschichte ( Ideas for the Future of History, 1805), Ueber den Wendepunkt des Antiken und Moderne ( The Turning Point of the Ancient and the Modern , 1805), Ueber die Philosophie der Modernen Welt ( Philosophy of the Modern World , 1806) and more.
Molitor became close to liberal intellectual circles, and through them, with Jews. He supported the establishment of the Jewish school in Frankfurt, which was later known as “Philanthropin, ” and was one of its first teachers. As a result of his ties to Jews and Freemasons, he was active in the promotion of Jewish-Christian brotherhood. He studied kabbalah in Frankfurt in 1813, from Jewish teachers, most of whom are unknown to us, and began 40 years of research into the Zohar .
Following his kabbalistic research, he published the first volume of Philosophie der Geschichte ( Philosophy of History or the Tradition of the Old Testament and its Relationship to the Church of the New Testament ). The second volume was published in 1834 and discusses kabbalistic foundations and the need for Divine revelation. The third volume was published in 1839. It brings a general description of paganism, Christianity and Judaism, and discusses Jewish laws of impurity. The fourth volume was published in 1853, and stresses the importance of kabbalah for Christianity.
His kabbalistic writing had been all but forgotten, until their rediscovery by Gershom Scholem in 1915.
* Philosophie der Geschichte, oder, Über die Tradition , Part I, Münster, 1834. VI, 455, [1] pp. 20 cm. Aging stains.
* Philosophie der Geschichte, oder, Über die Tradition , Part II, Münster, 1834. VIII, [2], 261, [1] pp. 20 cm.
* Philosophie der Geschichte, oder, Über die Tradition , Part III, Münster, 1839. VIII, [2], 716, [1] pp. 20 cm. German.
Fine condition. Original semi-leather binding with marbleized paper.