Jacob Taubes : Sovereignty and Messianic Time

This book presents the first in-depth study of the renowned Austrian-Jewish sociologist and philosopher Jacob Taubes (1923-87).

Jacob Taubes is now increasingly recognised as one of the most important Jewish thinkers of the 20th century. Born in Vienna, his family fled to Switzerland in the 1930s to escape Nazism, and Taubes later took up positions at institutions in the US, Berlin, and Jerusalem. where he engaged in debates with figures as diverse as Gershom Scholem and Carl Schmitt. Following his early death, Taubes’s influence has continued to grow and figures such as Giorgio Agamben, Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou have all engaged with his thought.

In Jacob Taubes: Sovereignty and Messianic Time, acclaimed philosopher Elettra Stimilli offers the first critical study of Taubes’s work, from his debates with Schmitt to his reading of Saint Paul, as well as his foundational influence on the school of thought we now call “political theology”. This book is essential reading for anyone researching political theology, 20th- century Jewish thought and the relationship between theology and philosophy today.