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In this article we intend undertake a reading of ancient judaism, or veterotestamentary, in some of its main aspects, in contrast to the Machiavellian view of the role of religion in the organization and expansion of the State. The first step of this enterprise will be given by exposing the founding and delineanting features of the ancient Jewish tradition, especially in the books that make up the so-called Old Testament, demonstranting the using of religion in the ordination and expansion of the State, as well as in the formation of the individual. In a second moment we will demonstrate how to create a new Jewish tradition, influenced and influential on the ancient Greek world, early in the Christian era which will be assimilated and explored in its mystical bias in Renaissance humanism. This Hellenistic Judaism tradition will be best known and assimilated in the European erudite circles of the Renaissance. Finally, we will try to demonstrate how the constitutive features of ancient Judaism, to the detriment of Hellenistic Judaism, can be read in the light of Machiavellian description of the role of religion in the organization and expansion of the State and the formation of the individual.

This article aims to bring together the thoughts of Theodor Adorno and Maurice Blanchot around the problem of humanism. The "jewish question", as we can still call it along with Marx, is the central issue of this conversation. Starting from Blanchot's intuition regarding the indestructibility of man and the role of judaism in revealing an exorbitant relation between men in the presence of Autrui, the article follows examining the seemingly opposite role of judaism in Adorno's and Horkheimer's dialectic of enlightenment. In this path, two topics stand out: the critique of hegelian dialectics, but also the rehabilitation of dialectics as an antidote to the regression of enlightenment; and the humanistic potencial retained in the concept of mimesis, especially in Adorno's work, concept which also allows the resignification of judaism inside the dialectic of enlightenment.

Er religion en privatsag? Op gennem det 20. århundrede har det været en klar opfattelse, at religion skal dyrkes inden for hjemmets fire vægge eller i kirkens hellige rum. Men faktum er, at vi konstant udstiller vores religiøse overbevisning ude i offentligheden. 'Religion i det offentlige rum' belyser gennem 13 bidrag, hvordan religion i allerhøjeste grad sætter en offentlig og politisk dagsorden i nutidens ellers så sekulariserede samfund. Religiøse ritualer bliver synlige for alle, når den pakistanske organisation Minhaj-ul-Quran holder fredsmarch for flere tusind deltagere med koranoplæsning og fællesbøn på Rådhuspladsen i København. Og når pinsegudstjenester rykker ud i det grønne, som det er blevet en tradition rundt om i landet. Bibelreferencer oplever vi i reklamer, når Philadelphia-smøreost sammenkædes med engle, og lampefirmaer markedsfører produkter under temaet 'Lad der blive lys'. Religion er også til diskussion, når for eksempel Immigrantmuseet og Københavns Bymuseum laver udstillinger om indvandring, og Folketinget og medierne sætter jævnligt tro til offentlig debat. Alligevel bekræfter vi ofte hinanden i, at religion er en privatsag, men som bogen viser, møder og forholder vi os til religion, hver gang vi bevæger os ud i det offentlige rum.