"Ken Koltun-Fromm's radical reinterpretation of the writings of Moses Hess, a fascinating nineteenth-century German Jewish intellectual figure who was at times religious and secular, traditional and modern, practical and theoretical, socialist and nationalist, shows Hess as a Jew struggling with the meaning of conflicting commitments and impulses. Modern readers will recognize how in Hess's life, as in their own, these commitments remain fragmented and torn.

As contemporary Jews negotiate multiple, often contradictory allegiances in the modern world, Koltun-Fromm argues that Hess's struggle to unite conflicting traditions and frameworks of meaning offers intellectual and practical resources to re-examine the dilemmas of modern Jewish identity."--BOOK JACKET.