The philosopher of religion and Rabbi Benzion Kellermann (1869–1923), widely forgotten today, was a central figure of liberal Judaism in Berlin before the Shoa. As an autonomous disciple of Hermann Cohen, he called for the development of a universal religion of reason, based on Kant and Marburg neo-Kantianism. He regarded liberal Judaism in his time as the only religion with the potential of reaching this ideal. In consequence, he was a staunch and self-confident Jew, as the intense debate with Ernst Troeltsch during the Great War shows. Kellermann’s biography refutes the general accusation that liberal Judaism always meant a fair measure of self-denial or surrender of Jewish identity. It shows instead multiple options for constructing identity within the German Jewry.
Kellermann connected Jewish religion with Kantian philosophy through the biblical prophets, as their “ethical monotheism” would provide substantial congruence to the thought of Kant. The first Kellermann biography provides an important contribution to the study of German-Jewish intellectual history from the 1870s to the Weimar period, for Jewish Studies, Christian theology, philosophy, history and cultural sciences.>