Retrospective Prophets

An exploration of Germany's national self-identity against the backdrop of a "post-secular" modernity.

What does it mean to be German, and how has religion shaped the answers? In Retrospective Prophets, Franz-Josef Deiters explores narratives of German identity during the era of the world wars through four distinct religious and cultural perspectives: Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s cultural Catholicism, Helmuth Plessner’s cultural Calvinism, Thomas Mann’s cultural Lutheranism, and Hermann Cohen’s cultural Judaism.

Through his examination of  these thinkers’ interpretations of Germany and its historical trajectory, Deiters reveals the central role of religious traditions in conceptions of German exceptionalism. Read against renewed scholarly interest in religion in a “post-secular” age, the writings offer a compelling perspective on the intersections of national identity, intellectual history, and religious inheritance.