The secular prophet of religious socialism: the Erich Fromm’s early writings (1922-1930)

Abstract

There exists a German-Jewish cultural discourse from the early 20th century that stands in dynamic tension between spiritual and material, sacred and secular, beyond the usual static dichotomies. Several key Jewish thinkers have sought to recover spiritual meaning, in direct interaction with the profane. Under different ways they developed a process of simultaneous secularization and sacralization, in a sort of “dialectic” combination of both. The first common characteristic of these authors is their deep attachment to the German romantic culture, with its ambivalence towards modernity, and its desperate attempt at re-enchanting the world through a return to past spiritual forms. This article will demonstrate these relationships through the work of young Eric Fromm.