Review Articles Trialogue - Jews in the New Europe Five years ago a momentous event passed almost unnoticed: the greatest work of modern Jewish theology, the monument of German Jewish thought, was at last translated into English, and also into Hebrew. The translation of Franz Rosenzweig's Stern der Erlösung ( Star of Redemption) gave belated recognition to the new era in Judaism. The holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel have radically transformed the Jewish scene, and one feature of this transformation is the fact that the language of Jewish theology is no longer German, it is English. Whether Modern Hebrew can establish itself as a vehicle for religious thought remains to be seen, but we have already come a long way since Rosenzweig could write (Star, p.302), "The holiness of the holy language which the Jew employs only for prayer does not permit his life to put out roots into the soil of a language of its own". Dr. Maybaum stands astride this cultural revolu- tion, in more senses than one. He is a German who writes in English. He is also the interpreter of Ger- man Jewish thought for the English reader. He describes his book as "a kind of commentary on Franz Rosenzweig's The Star of Redemption ". In reality it is much more: it is a distillation and at the same time a critique of German Jewish thought, brought up to date and set firmly and vividly in our time. It can be seen as an invaluable and authorita- tive companion volume to the English translation of Trialogue between Jew , Christian and Muslim Ignaz Maybaum The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization . London ( Routledge & Kegan Paul) 1973. Pp.xi, 179. Price £3. the Star , and it is appropriate that both works should appear in the same series, the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. As the title implies, the central concern of the book is trialogue, trialogue between Jew, Christian and Muslim. This trialogue exists, according to Maybaum, and is a characteristic of modern, post- medieval civilization. Hence he rejects Judah ha- Levi's parable of Judaism as the seed which produces the tree of which Christianity and Islam are two branches. "The seed knows nothing of the tree", it owes the tree no responsibility. "In our new era Jew, Christian and Muslim speak with each other. There is a trialogue between them, and this trialogue brings the Middle Ages to an end." Maybaum repeatedly takes issue with Rosenzweig for failing to recognise Islam as a form of mono- theism. Christianity and Islam are both mono- theistic religions; Judaism is monotheism, but it is not a religion. In this last detail he agrees with Rosenzweig, who wrote of the Jew that "his belief is not in something; he is himself the belief". Truly, Judaism is not so much a religion, more a way of life - a life lived in immediate and prophetic en- counter with God. "Prophetic religion", Maybaum maintains, is a contradiction in terms. An understanding of the nature of Judaism, Christianity and Islam can be of benefit to Jew, Christian and Muslim alike. Maybaum isolates certain features which he considers characteristic of each. Christianity is preoccupied with the spirit, with man's sinfulness and perfectibility, with faith (in the Pauline sense), with belief in doctrines. Islam preaches subservience to a holy law, revealed and immutable. "The holy law of the Muslim and the faith of the Pauline pattern, faith in the one revela- tion, became the two irreconcilable forms of mono- theism. Judaism recognizes the two opposing partners, Islam and Christianity, as blood from its own blood, and flesh from its own flesh. But Judaism remains different from either of them." Maybaum does not attempt to reduce the differ- ences to a simple formula. Nor does he plough a straight furrow in setting out his argument. He explores the subject by playing constantly-changing variations on a theme; he continually shifts and rearranges his elements as in an elaborate game; he achieves his effect often by suggestion, by repetition, by historical anecdote and arresting paradox. To attempt to summarise it would be misleading and unfair, and hardly possible. All one can do is single out a few of the most important themes. If the two monotheistic civilizations are irrecon- cilably at odds with one another, Judaism, being not a religion but a prophetic encounter with God, can 37