>What was still on Strauss's mind were the themes in his thesis, the
>basic oppositions between reason and belief, science and religion,
>political and religious systems and their respective categorical
>coverage of truths about the world and human society. It was within
>this general spirit that Strauss began to write on Zionism for several
>Jewish publications.
[...]
Strauss in what would become something of his own hallmark,
>came down squarely in between all factions and took on a metaphysical
>tone:
>
>``The primordial religious demand is not to believe in _dogmas_ but to
>believe in _being_.
[...]
>
>The theme of a primordial religious demand was taken up again and
>again through a series of ten essays from The Holy (1923) through
>Biblical History and Science (1925). These form an extended
>development of the themes in the thesis on Jacobi. Just as Jacobi had
>objected to and resisted the over baring domination of reason and its
>systemization of knowledge in Kant and especially Frichte, so Strauss
>objected to the domination of Jewish religious thought by highly
>rationalized cultural and theological theories. Like Jacobi who called
>for an attention to the necessary position of faith in metaphysics,
>Strauss made related demands for the primacy of a belief.
Chuck, It might be useful to also think about Friedrich Nietzsche and his influence on religious theories at the time (or prior to the time) Leo Strauss would have been developing his own theories of religion.
You know Nietzsche:
_God is dead_
_The morals and values of Western man derive from religious beliefs that he is ceasing to hold. He therefore needs to reevaluate his values._
But I mainly want to note Nietzsche's use of Zoroastrianism (the oldest religion still in existence today and the first monotheist -- from 6th c. bc Persia) in develpoing his own theories of Christianity. He wrote _Thus Spake Zarathustra_ in 1891 which is now a world classic. Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) was the founder of this religion, and its most notable tenet, of course, is the dichotomy between good and evil. Nietzsche added to this dichotomy, his idea of eternal punishment in balancing good and evil deeds and such.
And you know, the good and evil thing always leads me back to the neocons and Leo Strauss :). Just a thought.
Diane