Judaism Books

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Book SynopsisDennis Prager, author of the bestselling Rational Bible commentaries, turns to the Haggadah, the book used for the most widely celebrated Jewish ritual, the Passover Seder. (Like most Haggadahs, the Rational Passover Haggadah is printed in the Hebrew format, reading right to left.) Equally valuable for religious and non-religious Jews, as well as non-Jews, Prager’s rich commentary is filled with insights that the reader will ponder for a lifetime. The Rational Haggadah includes the Hebrew text for the Seder side by side with the English translation, making this a complete and fulfilling guide to the Passover ritual.

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Book SynopsisThe French philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943), a contemporary of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, remains in every way a thinker for our times. She was an outsider, in multiple senses, defying the usual religious categories: at once atheistic and religious; mystic and realist; sceptic and believer. She speaks therefore to the complex sensibilities of a rationalist age. Yet despite her continuing relevance, and the attention she attracts from philosophy, cultural studies, feminist studies, spirituality and beyond, Weil's reflections can still be difficult to grasp, since they were expressed in often inscrutable and fragmentary form. Lissa McCullough here offers a reliable guide to the key concepts of Weil's religious philosophy: good and evil, the void, gravity, grace, beauty, suffering and waiting for God. In addressing such distinctively contemporary concerns as depression, loneliness and isolation, and in writing hauntingly of God's voluntary 'nothingness', Weil's existential paradoxes continue to challenge and provoke. This is the first introductory book to show the essential coherence of her enigmatic but remarkable ideas about religion.Trade Review'This is an extraordinary work that accomplishes what numerous other works on Weil did not: provide a clear and coherent account of the entirety of Weil's religious reflections. It is an exceptional accomplishment that should be marketed and advertised as a landmark work. I cannot overstate its importance for contemporary discussions of theology and religious studies, nor its value to the current dialogue concerning the future of Christianity.' Patrick Horn, Azusa Pacific University 'This book is a page-turner. It is totally compelling in the service of making available a religious thinking that is liminal in form and content: in form, largely fragmentary and elliptical; in content, on the border between Judaism and Christianity, and also on the border between Platonism and Christianity; a thinking of God that continually troubles Christian orthodoxy while embracing it passionately; a thinking of God beyond the idolatries of divine presence that consoles and legitimates our lust for power; a thinking that ask for insight with respect to our motivations and attention and compassion towards a world of embodied selves that are weak and vulnerable. This is an extraordinarily readable text. I have rarely seen a book that manages so successfully to render an author in his or her own voice.' Cyril O'Regan, Huisking Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame 'Lissa McCullough convincingly shows that Simone Weil identifies God with the Good. Instead of concluding that God is "beyond" being, Weil characterizes God's manner of being as antithetical to that of the created world. Her dialectical theology affirms both God's abdication from creation and his minimal abiding wherever there is evil in the world. God's saving grace manifests itself whenever we cultivate a "pure love of the world." If redemption is possible, it is only on the cross, not from the cross - and true Christianity must take the form of what McCullough eloquently calls "love for the anonymous neighbor". This is a thoughtful and challenging book.' Andrew Cutrofello, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola University ChicagoTable of ContentsAbbreviations and Textual Notes Introduction Biographical Groundings Reading Simone Weil 1 / Reality and Contradiction Reality: The Irreducible Truth and Affliction The Role of Attention The Negative Role of Will The Value of Contradiction Right Use of Dogma 2 / The Paradox of Desire We Desire the Good The Good Is Absent The Good Is a Nothingness Detachment of Desire Waiting for God The Earthly Criterion (Not) To Speak of Holy Things 3 / God and the World Creation as Withdrawal The Absent God “Original Sin” The Self-Emptying God Crucifixion as Redemption Supernatural Harmony 4 / Necessity and Obedience Abdication to Necessity Providence Beauty Suffering Necessity: Root of Beauty and Suffering Obedience of Matter: Gravity Obedience of Spirit: Grace Amor Fati 5 / Grace and Decreation Sin Says “I” Grace Decreates the “I” Nothingness: The Humility of God Heaven and Hell Transparence Compassion Action as Incarnation 6 / Conclusion: Weil’s Theological Coherence Background Theological Influences Dialectic of Nature and Grace God Beyond Good and Evil Weil’s Anonymous Christianity Endnotes Selected Bibliography Index

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