A Study On The Thought Of Religious Tolerance Of Moses Mendelssohn

The rational was widely used when the Haskalah was launched in the 18 th century.However,this concept the rational has specific epoch connotation,particularly in the standpoint of Moses Mendelssohn,which was a verification process of the divine law based on the precondition that God is a priori being.As a result,the rational was not a kind of human cognition which is relative to perceptual knowledge but a tool or a means.Mendelssohn highlighted the importance of the rational at the same time of upholding the fundamental position of Jewish faith,and the parallel relationship of the rational and the faith constituted two pillars of social life,in which he put forward the concept of freedom of conscience.Then he viewed the secular world and church as the basic guarantee for it.After that,human happiness transited from freedom of conscience was regarded as the ethical basis for religious dialogue according to Hobbes' theory of the state and Locke's doctrine of freedom.Religious tolerance is at the heart of Mendelssohn's idea of dialogue including two approaches,kindheartedness and understanding.First,kindheartedness is the starting point of faith dialogue.Mendelssohn believed misfortunes of life should be pardoned by kindheartedness and redemption in the face of failing behaviors of Jewish ethics in society and the misery,and the whole divine law was rooted in a commandment: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' He appealed to achieve a kind of situation of equal coexistence between religions through being tolerant for pagan and loving others based on the reality that Judaism and Christianity were in opposition to each other.Second,understanding is the destination of religious tolerance.Seeking common ground while reserving differences is key,resulting from the discrepancy of Judaism and Christianity.However,the implementation of kindheartedness needs to be based on understanding.Thus,the second path came up by Mendelssohn,namely,to understand.Kindheartedness and understanding cause and affect each other in a dialectical relationship.Mendelssohn's dialectical nature of reason and belief deeply influenced some thinkers of later ages such as Kant and Bultmann.The former put forward the concept of rational belief staying away from the dilemma,and the latter's dialectical theology transcended Mendelssohn's dialectical thought.Mendelssohn's religious tolerance has historical and class limitations compared to Knitter's thought of dialogue.Therefore,we need Knitter's road of salvation aimed at promoting the common welfare of all mankind and addressing international challenges but not Mendelssohn's in today's globalization process.