born Dec. 25, 1886, Kassel, Ger.
died Dec. 10, 1929, Frankfurt am Main
German existentialist and religious philosopher.
As a student at Berlin and Freiburg, he rejected the idealism of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel . He briefly thought of converting to Christianity from Judaism but turned instead to an intensive reading of the Hebrew classics. While serving in World War I, he began to formulate the existentialist understanding of faith and belief that would eventuate in his major work, The Star of Redemption (1921). He collaborated with Martin Buber on a translation of the Hebrew scriptures in which he tried to restore what he thought was the existentialist tone of the original.