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Title: Sacred Fragments: Recovering Theology for the Modern Jew by Neil Gillman ISBN: 0-8276-0403-3 Publisher: Jewish Publication Society Pub. Date: December, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Excellent Introduction to Modern Jewish Theology
Comment: Judaism is about more than ritual, law and observance. It is also about God and His relationship with humanity. In this excellent book, Rabbi Gillman, chair of the philosophy/theology department at the Jewish Theological Seminary (which ordains COnservative Rabbis) writes a lucid introduction to this complex subject that is fully accessible to lay persons with no Jewish background (although a little knowledge of philosophy will help) Besides surveying all the major trends in Jewish theological thought from re-constructionism to Orthodox literalism, Gillman gives the reader his own views. Gillman attended the seminary during the waning years of Mordechai Kaplan's influence and during the hay day of the influence of Abraham Joshua Heschl. Heschl, who was essentially an hasid at a modern seminary took a decisively mystical and yet thoroughly modern approach to Jewish theology. Heschl's approach is most definitevely set forth in his classic "God in Search of Man." This book is difficult reading. Gillman summarizes it in much simpler, easier language. Heschl's approach can be summed up by his famous saying that "As a record of revelation, the whole bible is Midrash." In essence, Heschl and Gillman view the revletion at Sinai as something which happened for sure but not in the manner set forth in the bible. Because God's essence is beyond description or even human understanding, the bible necessarily filters that experience through the eyes of man. Thus, paradoxically, the fact that belief in God and His majesty defies rational explanation is the very essence of what makes it possible for modern man to believe in Him. Because while I cannot believe that God sits on a throne and opens a book every Rosh Hashanah, I can accept this as a metaphor for the nature of God which I cannot begin to comprehend. This very mysticism makes belief possible for modern man. Heschl really changed conservative theology after he came to the seminar in the 50's. His non-rational mystical approach was the precise opposite of what Mordechai Kaplan had taught for decades. Heschl's arrival made Kaplan's departure for the Reconstructionist movement inevitable. Heschl died young but his influence lives on through Gillman. This book will be of interest to any Jew or non-Jew interested in a truly modern approach to God and revelation. I also recommend Heschl for the truly adventurous. He was a great thinker and a poetic writer who will be remembered as one of the Jewish giants of the 20th century.
Rating: 5
Summary: A solid overview
Comment: A beginners' guide to Jewish theology and to the varying Jewish points of view on a variety of issues, the sort of book that points you to other books that discuss those issues in more detail. As other reviewers have pointed out, this is not the sort of book that should finish one's inquiry into such matters -- but for what it is, its excellent.
Rating: 4
Summary: An excellent, if biased, introduction to Jewish theology
Comment: It was with trepidation that I approached _Sacred Fragments_. After a year of increasing my Jewish observance while remaining committed to Conservative Judaism, I finally felt that I had amassed enough knowledge and confidence in my Judaism to approach difficult theological issues. Gillman's book is indispensible. The introduction and first two chapters introduce Gillman's perceptions of the five main theological positions of modern Judaism. (The "Orthodox" position articulated by R' Lamm of YU; Mordechai Kaplan's Reconstructionist theology; Rosensweig; Heschel; and, finally, Gillman's own modified Heschellian theology.) Although the middle chapters begin to get mired in technical discussion about historical philosophical and theological approaches to God, the pace picks up again when Gillman addresses theological responses to suffering and the need for ritual.
The reader must be careful, however, to realize that Gillman most certainly has an agenda. Although marketed as a general introduction to Jewish theology, Gillman definitely magnifies the "middle-of-the-road" positions, and subtly rejects both the "Orthodox" and "Reconstructionist" theologies without adequately stating their lack of tenability, at least in Gillman's mind. The serious reader looking to understand Jewish theology and make a competent choice will definitely want to follow up with a good primer on "Orthodox" theology (which is likely nowhere near as monolithic as Gillman makes it out to be), as well.
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Title: God in Search of Man : A Philosophy of Judaism by Abraham Joshua Heschel ISBN: 0374513317 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1976 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought by Neil Gillman ISBN: 1580230814 Publisher: Jewish Lights Pub Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Hebrew-English Tanakh by Jewish Publication Society of America ISBN: 0827606974 Publisher: Jewish Publication Society Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Conservative Judaism: The New Century by Neil Gillman ISBN: 0874415470 Publisher: Behrman House Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein ISBN: 0873340043 Publisher: Jewish Theological Seminary of Amer Pub. Date: December, 1988 List Price(USD): $31.25 |
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