Mirna Funk

When it comes to Jewish life today, the discussion – especially in Germany – usually revolves around the Holocaust, the Arab-Israeli conflict or anti-Semitism. Yet Judaism is the oldest of the monotheistic Abrahamic religions, which means that its culture and philosophy are thousands of years old. In her latest book Von Juden lernen (2024), Mirna Funk takes up eight theories from the history of Jewish ideas and brings them into dialog with the “now”. These include, for example, “lashon hara”, the prohibition of slander, or “tikkun olam”, the duty to make the world a better place. Funk thus opens up a new perspective on political debates, the culture of debate and personal development: true-to-life, philosophically sound and unique.

Mirna Funk, born in 1981, works as an author and freelance journalist for the FAZ, Die Zeit and the Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others. She was awarded the Uwe Johnson Prize for her debut novel Winternähe (2015).