Web Log
Brunner in portrait

The Center for Jewish History Digital Collections catalogs a number of artworks depicted Constantin Brunner. There is a portrait by Max Busyn, a wooden head of unknown authorship and Brunner's death mask. All are said to be in the possession of the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, but I have seen a death mask at the Brunnerzimmer in The Hague.

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A while ago, I posted an item about a portrait of Brunner by Julie Wolfthorn that appeared in the journal Ost und West, and is made available through a digitization project called Compact Memory, "the science portal for Jewish Studies." The database is searchable, and a number of articles by and about Brunner can be found in it. One item that I found was what appears to be a most compelling portrait of Brunner.

-20080626 (permalink)
Auschwitz Understood

The Bulletin Trimestriel de la Fondation Auschwitz has dedicated a special issue to Constantin Brunner (announced here, pdf, p.5-6). Included are an editorial, an introductory essay and an extract from Brunner's Das unglück unsres deutschen Volkes und unsre Völkischen (The Misfortune of our German Folk and our "Folkish").

The impetus for this publication comes from Jacques Aron, a Belgian architect who has made many contributions to discussion of urgent social concerns, and has now taken a great interest in Brunner, whom he discussed in a forum sponsored by La Maison du Livre, an organization devoted to the promotion of "books, literature and writing."

There is much in Aron's introductory essay to reinforce the conviction of Brunner's growing importance for an adequate understanding of our times.

It appears that the Bulletin eventually will place the whole text of the issue (N°98) on its website.

-20080521 (permalink)
Vive la France!
Some of Brunner's most active support has come from France. Albert Camus mentioned Lothar Bickel in L'Homme révolté. Prof. Michaël Baraz wrote an excellent study entitled La révolution insespérée. And Henri Lurié translated and composed a considerable quantity of material that is deposited at the Sorbonne. Currently, Raoul Sabas operates discussion and information websites, including an msn group and a blog. Raoul attended the meeting of the ICBI in The Hague in 2004 at which I, too, was present. He is an unrelenting critic of the pseudo-élites that dominate cultural discourse, and a passionate advocate for truth and liberté d'esprit.
-20080111 (permalink)
New in the Library
An article about Brunner originally published in Hebrew in the Haaretz daily newspaper. The writer of the article, Dr. Martin Rodan, is professor of French language and literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also Slovakian consul in Jerusalem, and a member of the Board of the International Constantin Brunner Institute. Dr. Rodan was at the ICBI meeting that I attended in The Hague, and I spent a fabulous day in his company touring Rotterdam, Delft, and the Mauritshuis art museum in The Hague.
-20071224 (permalink)
Portrait by Wolfthorn
Celebrated artist Julie Wolfthorn painted a remarkable portrait of Brunner. The portrait was reproduced in the journal Ost und West in 1911. The journal has been digitized and the Brunner portrait can be viewed here. No one seems to know where the original portrait is, and I am still trying to get hold of a copy of Ost und West in order to make a make a good scan of the reproduction.

-20071219 (permalink)
Good news from Galilee
HaGalil online, "the largest German-language Jewish internet site," has posted a multi-page study of Brunner's work on antisemitism, including excerpts from Die Rede der Juden, in which Brunner calls on Jews to reclaim Christ as their own.

-20071205 (permalink)
New in the Library
Hegel on evolution.

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New in the Library
Hermann Levin Goldschmidt on Martin Buber's relationship to Brunner.

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New in the Library
A fascinating description of Brunner from the autobiography of composer and music critic Walter Abendroth.

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Lurié's Ethics
I regularly search "Constantin Brunner" in Google. Occasionally I find something new and interesting. Today I hit the jackpot: Henri Lurié's translation of Spinoza's Ethics! I found it here. I don't really know what the host site is all about, nor do I know who uploaded the Lurié document. I have put a copy here.

For those not in the know, Henri Lurié was one of Brunner's most devoted followers. Lurié produced a considerable number of Brunner-related documents that he wished to make freely available electronically. I and others are still trying to assemble all this material.

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Off the beaten path
Brendan McBride is an attorney in San Antonio who operates a blog called "Off the Beaten Path". Mr. McBride has taken a keen interest in Brunner and has started to provide some very insightful commentary.

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Encyclopediation
I got into a scrap at Wikipedia over coverage of scholarly inquiry into Christ's Jewishness. I certainly do not expect that they will allow me to write an article about Christ that is based on Brunner's and Spinoza's understanding. What I can do, though, is raise the issue in the talk pages. I learned a great deal through the debate process. In fact, as result of research done for the debate, I am now reading Sholem Asch's The Nazarene.

-20070307 (permalink)
New in the Library
Gustav Landauer's review of Die Lehre.

-20070223 (permalink)
New in the Library
Walter Bernard's article on Zen Buddhism.

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Page revision
I have added a big section to my description of Brunner's doctrine in which I present an elaboration of his doctrine of the people of spirit and the common folk. I have also added this material to the Wikipedia article.
-20070131 (permalink)
Practical genius

Dr. Aron M. Rappaport was a great Canadian medical innovator. He was also a leading Brunnerian, overseeing the English translation of Our Christ. In 1982, Rappaport gave the annual Sarrazin Lecture (text available here) of the Canadian Physiological Society in which he gave full credit to Brunner's philosophy for providing the intellectual foundation for his scientific insights. Rappaport's contributions to medical science are commemorated in his entry in Milestones of Research in Gastroenterology by Canadians (available here), and in the naming of a University of Toronto laboratory in his honour.

The University of Toronto has a large archive of Rappaport's documents. I am hoping to go through this archive with the object of providing a full assessment of this man's tremendous achievements, which provide an enduring witness to the practical utility of Brunner's thought.

-20070130 (permalink)


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