Dr Yael Almog to Deliver English Goethe Society Lecture in London

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham University is pleased to announce that Dr Yael Almog, Associate Professor of German, will deliver the forthcoming English Goethe Society Lecture at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies (ILCS), University of London.

Titled In the Shadow of Romanticism: Mendelssohn, Herder, and the Jewish Political Imagination, the lecture will take place on Thursday, 30 April 2026 at 5:45 pm (BST) at Senate House, London, and will also be streamed online.

The talk explores the intellectual relationship between Moses Mendelssohn and Johann Gottfried Herder, offering a fresh perspective on Mendelssohn’s landmark work Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism (1783). Almog argues that Mendelssohn’s vision of religious toleration was shaped by Herder’s culturally pluralist philosophy, particularly his revaluation of oral traditions as central to human history.

By reading Mendelssohn through Herder, the lecture resolves a longstanding tension in Mendelssohn’s thought between the distinctiveness of Judaism and the equal worth of all cultures. The second part of the lecture traces how this intellectual encounter influenced twentieth-century Jewish political thought, engaging with figures such as Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Ze'ev Sternhell.

Professor Almog’s research focuses on German cultural history from the eighteenth century to the present, with particular attention to theology and German-Jewish intellectual traditions. She is the author of Secularism and Hermeneutics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019).

All are welcome to attend this English Goethe Society lecture, which will be held in person at the University of London Senate House (Room 261) and streamed online via Zoom. Attendance is free, but advanced online registration is essential – please select the appropriate ticket type when booking:

https://ilcs.sas.ac.uk/news-events/events/shadow-romanticism-mendelssohn-herder-jewish-political-imagination