Authors: Elliot N. Dorff
ISBN-13: 9780876685990, ISBN-10: 0876685998
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc
Date Published: January 1993
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Contemporary Jews often find meaning in Judaism's family and communal orientation, its beautiful rituals, its enriching culture, its sense of ethnic rootedness, and its moral values. For the classical Jewish tradition, however, all of these features of Judaism depend on a belief in God. Since many modern Jews do not know what to make of that belief, it is often ignored. They may be inspired by Judaism's high regard for education and its passion for justice, but their belief in God rests on childhood images of the Almighty. They are often embarrassed and uneasy, for they sense that their attachment to Judaism may be based upon intellectual quicksand. Motivated by just such feelings, Rabbi Elliot Dorff probes what we as adults can know about God through human reason, human and Divine words, and human and Divine action. Without assuming a background in philosophy, he skillfully takes us through some of the major philosophical options and conundrums in using each of these sources of knowledge about God and the images of God that result. With remarkable clarity and inspiring honesty, Rabbi Dorff's exploration results in a vibrant Jewish faith, one that takes due regard for both the emotional and intellectual sides of our being. Dorff's own personal quest, artfully woven throughout this spiritually uplifting volume, aids the reader to make his or her own Judaism emotionally satisfying and intellectually sound. The result is a Judaism that can be for the modern reader what it is for the author: the product of a love of God _with all one's heart, with all one's soul, and with all one's might._
Preface | ||
Acknowledgment | ||
1 | A Personal Quest | 1 |
Seeking an Honest, Integrated Faith | ||
The Traditional Stance | ||
The Modern Reality of Jewish Belief | ||
My Own Growth into Religious Belief | ||
Epistemological Moorings | ||
God in Contemplation versus God in Action and Prayer | ||
2 | Using Reason to Know God | 17 |
Knowing God as One Knows an Object | ||
Discerning Patterns in Experience: Knowledge through Nonhypothetical Discovery | ||
Appropriate Methods to Know a Personal God | ||
3 | Knowing God through Human Action | 43 |
Methodology: How Action Affords Theological Knowledge | ||
Content: Two Examples of What We Learn of God through Action - Duties to Parents and Observance of the Sabbath | ||
The Role of Law in Effectuating Principles | ||
The Truth Value and Wisdom of These Theological Claims | ||
4 | Knowing God through Words of the Divine: Revelation | 91 |
Understanding Revelation | ||
Experiencing Revelation | ||
5 | Knowing God through Divine Action | 129 |
The Related Problem of Evil | ||
Fusing Conceptions of God | ||
Differentiating the Two Definitions of God | ||
God's Justice and Goodness | ||
Truth at the Price of Consistency and Fantasy | ||
6 | Knowing God through Human Words: Prayer | 149 |
Experiencing God through Prayer | ||
The Philosophical Problems and Promise of Prayer | ||
7 | Our Images of God | 209 |
Anthropomorphism as a Form of Idolatry | ||
Images, Creeds, and Symbols | ||
The Functions of Images in Worship | ||
How Images Mean | ||
The Truth of Images | ||
The Authority of Images | ||
A Sample Case: Feminine Images for God | ||
Good and Bad Images | ||
Epilogue | 249 | |
Endnotes | 253 | |
Index | 289 |