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3 JACOB B . AGUS A S A STUDENT O F MODER N JEWISH PHILOSOPH Y David Novak AGUS A S CRITIC : HISTORICA L CONTEX T ANYONE PRIVILEGE D t o hav e know n th e lat e Rabb i Jaco b B . Agus, a s wa s I , wil l certainl y agre e tha t h e wa s a ma n o f immens e personal an d intellectua l integrity , an d on e wh o ha d th e commensurat e courage suc h integrit y requires . His courag e wa s evidenced throughou t his career a s a rabbi an d a s a Jewish thinke r an d writer . Hi s intellectua l integrity especiall y wa s alread y manifes t i n hi s first book , publishe d i n 1941 whe n h e wa s a n obscur e thirty-year-ol d rabb i servin g a fairl y sizable congregation i n Chicago . The book , Modern Philosophies of Judaism : A Study of Recent JewishPhilosophies of Religion, is much mor e tha n its subtitl e describes. 1 I t i s muc h mor e tha n a study , somethin g on e would expec t fro m a young ma n wh o ha d recentl y receive d hi s Ph.D . in philosoph y an d wh o stil l ha d th e usuall y timi d habit s o f a graduat e student. Rather , i t wa s i n ever y sens e a tou r d e force , fo r Agu s di d much mor e tha n "study " th e leadin g moder n Jewis h thinker s wit h whom h e dealt in his book; he boldly and cogently criticize d them, an d then h e went o n t o outlin e wha t wa s to become hi s own philosoph y o f Judaism. I a m convince d tha t th e fea t o f thi s youn g rabbi-thinke r ca n be compare d onl y t o th e tou r d e forc e o f another youn g rabbi-thinker , that o f Le o Baeck , wh o i n hi s 190 0 boo k The Essence of Judaismcon fronted th e view o f Judaism o f the leading Christia n thinke r o f his tim e and place , Adolf von Harnack , an d thereb y presente d hi s ow n philoso 67 68 David Novak phy of Judaism . And just as Baecks first darin g book se t the tone fo r hi s future thought , s o did this first book by Agus. To better appreciat e th e courag e o f Agus' earlies t work , eve n befor e we examin e it s intelligenc e an d prescienc e o f hi s late r work , i t i s important t o know just who Jacob B. Agus was in 1941. Born i n Poland in 191 1 into a family distinguishe d by great piety an d learning, Agu s cam e wit h hi s family t o th e Unite d State s a s a teenager . He soo n becam e a studen t o f th e grea t Lithuania n Talmudis t Rabb i Moses Soloveitchi k a t wha t wa s late r t o becom e Yeshiv a Universit y i n New York, where h e excelled in traditional rabbinic learning. Ordaine d as a n Orthodo x rabb i i n hi s earl y twenties , Agu s soo n foun d himsel f studying philosoph y an d histor y o f religion s a t Harvar d University , where he worked with the great historian of Jewis h and general philosophy Harry Austryn Wolfson, an d where h e was the last doctoral studen t of th e idealis t philosophe r Willia m Hocking . Alread y a s a graduat e student, however , Agu s coul d n o longe r b e considere d a n Orthodo x Jew, though h e serve d a t the tim e a s the rabb i o f Orthodox synagogue s in Norfolk , Virginia , an d Cambridge , Massachusetts . Hi s stud y o f history and , especially , philosoph y...

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