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The Body of Faith: God and the People Israel
The original edition of this book describes it as an attempt to 'develop a comprehensive understanding of traditional Judaism in conversation with contemporary philosophical and Christian thought.' This book has been praised by many as one of the most exciting and inspiring books of Jewish theology to be published in a long time.
302 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 1996
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March 20, 2019
To me, this book seemed less like a coherent argument than like three mini-books. Much of the first third of the book compares Judaism to Christianity. The second third of the book focuses on the nature of the Jewish version of God; I found it to be a bit above my head. The last couple of chapters focus on the difficulties Judaism has in adjusting to the modern world.
In the course of these musings, the author has a wide variety of insights, some of which I found interesting. For example:
*Because Judaism precedes the growth of philosophy, it tends to emphasize narrative over philosophy. Even though Christianity is not itself a philosophy, Christianity was born when Greco-Roman philosophy was already mature.
*And because Judaism does not yet have a Messiah, Judaism lives in the future to some extent; informed Jews know that Judaism has not yet succeeded.
*Jews secularized in recent centuries not just because assimilation allowed them to avoid suffering for their religion, but also because Judaism has generally not been pro-suffering; the Jewish story begins "with an Abraham whose obedience is rewarded by material wealth" so "the subsequent history of suffering... was never regarded as normal."
*Although ethics is central to Judaism, a Judaism based on ethics alone is inadequate. The ritual laws that are not obviously related to morality are necessary because when the people obeys such laws, "it experiences the otherness of [God], the distance between the thoughts of God and of man."
*The author creatively reinterprets the Talmudic legend of the rabbis who ignore a heavenly voice favoring one side of a dispute. He suggests that this does not mean that the rabbis can override God, merely "as an expression of skepticism that the heavenly voice... was indeed the voice of God and not some illusion."
In the course of these musings, the author has a wide variety of insights, some of which I found interesting. For example:
*Because Judaism precedes the growth of philosophy, it tends to emphasize narrative over philosophy. Even though Christianity is not itself a philosophy, Christianity was born when Greco-Roman philosophy was already mature.
*And because Judaism does not yet have a Messiah, Judaism lives in the future to some extent; informed Jews know that Judaism has not yet succeeded.
*Jews secularized in recent centuries not just because assimilation allowed them to avoid suffering for their religion, but also because Judaism has generally not been pro-suffering; the Jewish story begins "with an Abraham whose obedience is rewarded by material wealth" so "the subsequent history of suffering... was never regarded as normal."
*Although ethics is central to Judaism, a Judaism based on ethics alone is inadequate. The ritual laws that are not obviously related to morality are necessary because when the people obeys such laws, "it experiences the otherness of [God], the distance between the thoughts of God and of man."
*The author creatively reinterprets the Talmudic legend of the rabbis who ignore a heavenly voice favoring one side of a dispute. He suggests that this does not mean that the rabbis can override God, merely "as an expression of skepticism that the heavenly voice... was indeed the voice of God and not some illusion."
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