Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to JEWISH THEOLOGY
- cambridge companions to religion
- the cambridge companion to JEWISH THEOLOGY
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 What is Jewish Theology?
- Part I Biblical-Rabbinic
- Part II Medieval
- Part III Modern
- Part IV Contemporary Issues
- Part V Analytic Philosophy and Theology
- 16 Can There Be a Positive Theology?
- 17 Theological Realism and its Alternatives in Contemporary Jewish Theology
- 18 A Defense of Verbal Revelation
- 19 A Constructive Jewish Theology of God and Perfect Goodness
- Index
- Other Titles in the Series (continued from page ii)
- References
19 - A Constructive Jewish Theology of God and Perfect Goodness
from Part V - Analytic Philosophy and Theology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 December 2020
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to JEWISH THEOLOGY
- cambridge companions to religion
- the cambridge companion to JEWISH THEOLOGY
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 What is Jewish Theology?
- Part I Biblical-Rabbinic
- Part II Medieval
- Part III Modern
- Part IV Contemporary Issues
- Part V Analytic Philosophy and Theology
- 16 Can There Be a Positive Theology?
- 17 Theological Realism and its Alternatives in Contemporary Jewish Theology
- 18 A Defense of Verbal Revelation
- 19 A Constructive Jewish Theology of God and Perfect Goodness
- Index
- Other Titles in the Series (continued from page ii)
- References
Summary
I argue that a traditional Jewish conception of God should be that of a perfectly good being. This follows from the demand for our maximal love of God. A perfectly good being must have a perfectly good character and need have power and knowledge only to the degree needed to express its perfectly good character. It need not be omnipotent or omniscient. It would be eternal and creator and sustainer of the world. It is an open question whether God must be a metaphysically necessary being.
Keywords
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Theology , pp. 453 - 466Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Selected Further Reading
Gellman, Jerome. “The God of the Jews and the Jewish God.” In Routledge Companion to Theism, 38–53. Edited by Taliaferro, Charles, Harricosn, Victoria, and Goetz., Stewart Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2012.Google Scholar
Gellman, Jerome Yehuda. Perfect Goodness and the God of the Jews. Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2019.Google Scholar
Kellner, Menachem. Must a Jew Believe Anything? 2nd ed. Oxford and Portland, OR: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2006.Google Scholar
Stump, Eleonore. The God of the Bible and the God of the Philosophers. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Swinburne, Richard. The Coherence of Theism, Revised Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swinburne, Richard. “God and Time.” In Reasoned Faith, 204–22. Edited by Stump, Eleonore. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Wainwright, William. “Two (or Maybe One and a Half) Cheers for Perfect Being Theology.” Philo 12 (2009): 228–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, Keith. Christ and the Cosmos. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar