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The Question of Gods Perfection
The Question of God's Perfection brings together leading scholars from the Jewish and Christian traditions to critically examine the theology of perfect being in light of the Hebrew Bible and classical rabbinic sources.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published December 3, 2018
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About the author
Yoram Hazony
17 books119 followersYoram Hazony is an Israeli philosopher, Bible scholar, and political theorist. He is president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem and serves as the chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation. His books include The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, The Virtue of Nationalism, and Conservatism: A Rediscovery.
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December 20, 2019
Asking about God’s perfection
The God of Scripture
Metaphors of God
The personal God
The practicality of Classical Theism
Rabbinic conceptions of God’s attributes
Perfect ideas of God
The anger of God
Redirecting God’s perfection toward Wonder
Such is the general layout of this book. Across various scholarly essays proposed by Jewish and Christian tribes, this book asks and attempts to answer whether abstract philosophical conceptualizations of God are well motivated and/or necessary. This book is fascinating because it presents two very wide angles of “biblical” thought, yet when pieced together on their own terms, both angles are equally plausible.
My impression of the book is that it is overly generous toward traditions within Jewish thought. From one angle, there are good motivations for abstract philosophical commitments about God that are not explicitly taught in Scripture. From another angle, God has spoken, and that draws us toward the God who wondrously is, and not a deity dependent upon unnecessary pontifications.
Here’s *the* one problem of the book:
Every scholar in the book, both Jewish and Christian, is pontificating about God and utilizing abstract philosophical conceptualizations about “God.” They all also appeal to schemas of tradition—even tradition that allegedly is derived from Scripture. Yet I just don’t buy into the presupposition that this thing called “Scripture” is as self evident about such topics as is imagined. Even the Talmud is at best quasi-helpful. So then, what should our *standard* be for settling the human concerns about God’s perfection?
I’m not sure this book is designed to offer any slam dunk presentation or answer to that question; it rather initiates the conversation.
The God of Scripture
Metaphors of God
The personal God
The practicality of Classical Theism
Rabbinic conceptions of God’s attributes
Perfect ideas of God
The anger of God
Redirecting God’s perfection toward Wonder
Such is the general layout of this book. Across various scholarly essays proposed by Jewish and Christian tribes, this book asks and attempts to answer whether abstract philosophical conceptualizations of God are well motivated and/or necessary. This book is fascinating because it presents two very wide angles of “biblical” thought, yet when pieced together on their own terms, both angles are equally plausible.
My impression of the book is that it is overly generous toward traditions within Jewish thought. From one angle, there are good motivations for abstract philosophical commitments about God that are not explicitly taught in Scripture. From another angle, God has spoken, and that draws us toward the God who wondrously is, and not a deity dependent upon unnecessary pontifications.
Here’s *the* one problem of the book:
Every scholar in the book, both Jewish and Christian, is pontificating about God and utilizing abstract philosophical conceptualizations about “God.” They all also appeal to schemas of tradition—even tradition that allegedly is derived from Scripture. Yet I just don’t buy into the presupposition that this thing called “Scripture” is as self evident about such topics as is imagined. Even the Talmud is at best quasi-helpful. So then, what should our *standard* be for settling the human concerns about God’s perfection?
I’m not sure this book is designed to offer any slam dunk presentation or answer to that question; it rather initiates the conversation.
Displaying 1 of 1 review