Description
Book SynopsisTruth informs much of the self-understanding of religious believers. Accordingly, understanding what we mean by ‘truth’ is a key challenge to interreligious collaboration. The contributors to this volume, all leading scholars, consider what is meant by truth in classical and contemporary Jewish thought, and explore how making the notion of truth more nuanced can enable interfaith dialogue. Their essays take a range of approaches: some focus on philosophy proper, others on the intersection with the history of ideas, while others engage with the history of Jewish mysticism and thought. Together they open up the notion of truth in Jewish religious discourse and suggest ways in which upholding a notion of one’s religion as true may be reconciled with an appreciation of other faiths.
By combining philosophical and theological thinking with concrete case studies, and discussion of precedents and textual resources within Judaism, the volume proposes new interpretations of the concept of truth, going beyond traditional exclusivist uses of the term. A key aim is to help Jews seeking dialogue with other religions to do so while remaining true to their own faith tradition: in pursuit of this, the volume concludes with suggestions of how the ideas presented can be applied in practice.
CONTRIBUTORS: Cass Fisher, Jerome Yehuda Gellman, Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Avraham Yizhak (Arthur) Green, Stanislaw Krajewski, Tamar Ross
Trade Review'[
Religious Truth] allows for a much more profound variety of interfaith dialogue than the mere comparison of doctrines. It allows a person belonging to one religion to appreciate (perhaps even ineffable) truths that are embodied in the lives of people belonging to another faith. [...] Goshen-Gottstein is to be congratulated for bringing these contributions together, for his insightful introduction, his own excellent chapter on the multiple possible meanings of Israel being a Kingdom of Priests, and his very helpful summary at the end of the book.'
Samuel Lebens,
Religious Studies "[
Religious Truth] fleshes out a Judaic response to other faiths, with some contributors adapting ideas from the Chasidic masters."
Simon Rocker,
The Jewish Chronicle'[
Religious Truth] is an extraordinary contribution to Comparative Theology ... displaying the richness of modern Jewish theological reflection as well as of Jewish contributions to and conceptualizations of Jewish / Christian theological dialogue.'
Kurt Anders Richardson,
Ecumenical TrendsTable of ContentsIntroduction. The Scope of Religious Truth: Project Overview - Alon Goshen-Gottstein
1. Old-Fashioned Truth, Telic Truth, and Interreligious Understanding - Jerome Yehuda Gellman
2. History and Truth in Religion - Stanislaw Krajewski
3. The Cosmic Eye and Its Pupil: Divine Perfection and the Mediation of Universal and Particular Truth in Rabbinic Theology - Cass Fisher
4. Da’at: Universalizing a Hasidic Value - Avraham Yizhak (Arthur) Green
5. The Truth Beyond and Beyond Truth: Religious Truth in Teachings of the Breslav Tradition and Their Contemporary Interreligious Application - Alon Goshen-Gottstein
6. The Cognitive Value of Religious Truth Statements: Rabbi A. I. Kook and Postmodernism - Tamar Ross
Religious Truth: A Process Summary - Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Bibliography
Notes on the Contributors
Index
