Foundations of the Reform Movement in Hamburg: German Judaism in transition during the early 19th century

This study is a description and analysis of the early days of the Hamburg Temple, the first permanent congregation of the Jewish Reform Movement in Germany. It addresses substantive questions surrounding the founding of the Temple as a chapter in the modern history of Judaism and methodological questions concerning this same matter as a chapter in the general history of religions. The purpose of the study is to probe the origins of the Hamburg Temple, and with it the institutional founding of the Reform Movement, from a variety of perspectives in specific historical context. Surprisingly, the Temple congregation, known as the New Israelite Temple Association in Hamburg, has not been the exclusive object of such a study before. This work contributes to the preservation of the factual background and actuality of the Temple's birth and existence while deploying the historical evidence, both new and known, for the larger purpose of advancing attempts to theorize the problematics of modern religious life.;The study begins with a summary of related research to date, proceeds to analysis of the liturgical rite of the Temple congregation, presents new perspectives on the historical development of the congregation's organizational structure, and proposes comparisons of the Temple's religious ideology with the interpretation of modern German Judaism set forth by Max Wiener in his epochal work, Jewish Religion in the Age of Emancipation.;The study concludes with a survey of the history of Hamburg, setting an accent on the city's modern capitalist development following the years of French occupation. The final chapter suggests isomorphism between a new religious consciousness reflected in the Judaism of the Hamburg Temple and other forms of subjectivity characteristic of capitalist society. These other forms are intimated in the work of Karl Marx and elaborated recently by Moishe Postone.;The dissertation concludes with reflections on the methodological benefits and potential of Marx for studies of modern religious phenomena. It shows in particular, how Marx's thought fits well into a determinate lineage of scholarship within the history of religions discipline traced through the work of Emile Durkheim and Jonathan Z. Smith.