Walter Benjamin as Religious Decisionist

Axel Honneth’s review (Margarete Kohlenbach, Walter Benjamin. Self-Reference and Religiosity) is a demand for an independent study. Its significance lies in the fact that it reflects on the difficulties and general possibilities of Benjamin research in the context of a remarkable book. Benjamin’s oeuvre is very diverse – it can be broken down into periods, but it is very difficult to find a unified intention in the œuvre. However, the search for such a path is also very attractive for researchers. Kohlenbach tries to trace the early philosophical motifs of religion through the whole œuvre. Honneth demonstrates the failure of the enterprise with a very nuanced analysis. But he also suggests that no other theme could fulfil the role of fundamental motive – including an interest in Romanticism or Marxism. There is no alternative but to accept the ,,inherent heterogeneity” of Benjamin’s œuvre.