Heinz Cassirer


Heinrich Walter Cassirer was a Kantian philosopher, son of a famous German philosopher, Ernst Cassirer. Being Jews, the Cassirer family fled the Nazis in the 1930s. As a refugee scholar, Heinz went to University of Glasgow working with Professor H. J. Paton, who persuaded him to write a book on Kant's third Critique, the Critique of Judgment. Following Paton, he moved to Oxford, lecturing at Corpus Christi College, where his students included Iris Murdoch. He returned to the University of Glasgow in 1946, having been appointed to a permanent lectureship, and remained there until 1960 when he withdrew to focus on newfound biblical interests.
He was a noted scholar on the thought of Kant. He thought highly of Karl Barth's understanding of Kant. Cassirer, a "translator and interpret of Kant, is reliably reported to have asked, ‘Why is it that this Swiss theologian understands Kant far better than any philosopher I have come across?’". While at Glasgow, his observations of society in Scotland led him to speak of "'Highland ravings' - the obsessive clinging on to what is wholly illusory".
As a middle-aged adult, reading the New Testament for the first time, Cassirer was struck by the writings of St. Paul in relation to ethics. As he studied, he committed himself to the Christian faith and was baptized in the Anglican Church in 1955. He produced a translation of the New Testament from the Greek sources, titled '. His translation is also noted for its formal language. Below is a sample passage, Matthew 7:24-25.
Cassirer's translation efforts began with a topic-based collation of Paul's letters, divided into forty categories. This work went through several iterations and a list of the category headings is printed at the end of '. In the final year of his life, Cassirer also completed a translation of Sophocles' last play, Oedipus at Colonus. This work and the Categories remain unpublished.

Writings by Heinz Cassirer