Description
Book SynopsisThe term Ethical Monotheism is an important marker in Judaism's tumultuous transition into the modern era. The term emerged in the context of culture-wars concerning the question of whether or not Jews could or should become emancipated citizens of modern European states. It appeared in arguments whether or not Judaism could be considered a Religion of Reasona symbolic, motivational representation of a universal morality, and in debates about whether or not Judaism could or should reform itself into a Religion of Reason.
This book is both a decisive departure from such discussions and an attempt to add a further, post-modern, statement to their ongoing development. As departure, it refuses to take for granted a philosophical conception of Religion of Reason as the standard for Ethical Monotheism according to which Judaism was to be evaluated or reformed. As continuation, the book undertakes a phenomenology of Jewish modes of ethical religiosity that allow
Table of Contents
Introduction: Holistic Study of Judaism 1. The Tree of Knowledge: Limits of God’s Power Over Chaos 2. Afflictions of Love: Rabbinic Moral Psychology 3. Cosmological Halakha: Maimonides’s Ethico-Theology 4. Theosphic Torah: A Kabbalist Theory of Justice 5. Before the Law: Buber and Levinas - Totality vs Transcendence 6. Concluding Reflections Postscript: Can Judaism Become Archaic? Appendices
