Reluctant Theologians: Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Edmond Jabes

Beth Hawkins focuses on the problematic faith in the works of Kafka, Celan, and Jab s to reevaluate the notions of God and covenant in light of Nietzsche's "death of God" hypothesis. the divine-human relation. In Reluctant Theologians, she shows that Kafka, Celan, and Jab s offer as a testament, as three unique instances of Kiddush Ha-Shem (sanctification of the divine name), to a divine source that persists at the same time as it is being continuously reconstituted in the moment of writing. What connects Kafka, Celan, and Jab s to a postmodern philosophy is their shared belief that a specifically Jewish ethic can serve as a model for a universal ethic.

Beth Hawkins is the Assistant Professor of English at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.