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
18 - A Defense of Verbal Revelation
from Part V - Analytic Philosophy and Theology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 December 2020
- 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
Does the idea that a text might express God’s will make any sense in the modern world? Modern Jewish theology, in part under the impetus of modern biblical criticism, has overwhelmingly moved toward a view of God as beyond speech, and of the Torah, correspondingly, as the record of various human beings’ attempts to figure out what God might want of them, rather than a divine intervention into human affairs. If any human/divine encounter lies behind the Torah, it is thought, that encounter can be conceived only as a silent, ineffable I-Thou moment. The Torah cannot literally be God’s word; that is at best a rough metaphor.
This essay attempts to bring out the motivations for the above view and then, wholly, to upend it — from a perspective as committed to the accuracy of modern Biblical criticism, and to a progressive understanding of God and halacha, as that of those who uphold it. Maimonides says that we should see every verse and every letter of the Torah as “contain[ing] within it wisdom and wonders to whomever the Lord has granted the wisdom to discern it” — as, in a robust sense, divine. “In Defense of Verbal Revelation” recuperates a modern, progressive version of Maimonides’ view.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Theology , pp. 423 - 452Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020