Beyond Reasonable Doubt

by Louis Jacobs

More than forty years have passed since Louis Jacobs first put forward the argument that traditionally observant Jews have no reason to take issue with the results obtained by the historical critics in their investigation into the Bible and the other classical sources of Judaism. As a result of his views, which were first published in the still-controversial text We Have Reason to Believe, the Anglo-Jewish Orthodox hierarchy banned Jacobs from serving as an Orthodox rabbi. In this new book, Louis Jacobs examines afresh all the issues involved. He does so objectively but with passion, meeting the objections put forward by critics from the various trends within the Jewish world, both Orthodox and Reform. In a recent poll conducted by the (London) Jewish Chronicle, Louis Jacobs was chosen as the 'Greatest British Jew.'

278 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

Louis Jacobs was the founder of Masorti Judaism (also known as Conservative Judaism) in the United Kingdom, and a leading writer and theologian. He was also the focus of what has become known as "The Jacobs Affair" that took place in the British Jewish community in the early 1960s.

Reviews

[Steve Gross · Rating 3 out of 5]

A kind of sequel to We Have Reason to Believe, 40 years later. While Jacobs was undoubtedly a pioneer in modern Jewish rationalism, he falls into his own trap of fundamentalism. At one point, he rages that the Documentary Hypothesis is science; no, it's not. While it might be clever and compelling and even right, it's literary theory and there is not a shred of proof that it is true. Those interested in a counter should read Joshua Berman's Ani Maamin.