20th Century Jewish Religious Thought: Original Essays on Critical Concepts, Movements, and Beliefs

Introduction

Introduction Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought was conceived during the summer of 1982 while the editors, in defiance of the thunders of the north, strolled through the charmed gardens of the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem . Our convivial but random conversation eventually focused upon the subject of the alleged Jewish disinclination to engage in theology. We quickly dismissed as both simplistic and rhetorical the frequently rehearsed explanation that Jewish theological reticence is due to Christianity's historical preemption of "God talk". Nor did we regard as adequate the frequently advanced explanation that Judaism is a religion preeminently grounded in concrete religiOUS acts and thus has no need for the ostensibly disembodied speculations associated with theological indulgence. What was clear to both of us was that theology is the discipline Jews eschew while nonetheless pursuing it with covert avidity. Virtually every concept that has occupied a position of significance within the discourse of world religions has its cognate or analogue in Jewish religious thought. Theologumena have, however, preoccupied Jews. Not as extraneous intrusions, but as an indigenous endeavor to illuminate their own experience. Indeed, insofar as the xiv INTRODUCTION Jewish people was convoked by the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, its life thereafter was devoted with considerable passion and intelligence to the issues raised by that holy convocation: Who is this God that calls us forth to be his own and what is the character of life under his dominion? In the process of assessing the implications of an evident situation of paradox -that Jews elaborate and refine religiOUS conceptions while disdaining to call their enterprise theology-we determined to undertake an invitational volume in which contemporary Jewish thinkers would be matched to terms and ideas that have otherwise engaged their reflections. The result, it was hoped, would fill a lacuna in the contemporary literature. Clearly, although Judaism may not acknowledge a formal theological tradition, it nonetheless possesses a rich and nuanced theological history. The model that we set ourselves was that of the Stichworterbuch, or technical dictionary based on a thematic scheme. As a more specific exemplum for the enterprise we examined A Handbook of Christian Theology, co-edited by Arthur A. Cohen and Marvin Halverson in 1958, which brought together major figures in Protestant theology and historical research (with the exception of Cohen himself, who contributed the essays on Atheism and Judaism) to consider the state of reflection on the principal conceptions in Protestant theological discussion during the 1950s. Having determined that the design of Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought would be that of the definitionessay , we then identified the salient themes, concepts, and movements that animate Jewish religious thought. As we began to draw up the list of possible candidates to write the various definition-essays, we were struck by the considerable number of individuals -rabbis, academics, and laypersons-currently engaged in a creative and genuinely reflective manner in the enterprise of Jewish religious thought, itself another indication that the time was ripe for the volume we had in mind. It was hoped that not only an illuminating portrait of Jewish religious thinking would emerge but that the project as well would stimulate its further development. In assigning the essays-guided solely by the criteria of proven competence and thoughtfulness with regard to the respective topic-we became aware that contemporary interest in Jewish religiOUS thought embraces virtually the full ideological spectrum of Jewish life: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist; Zionist, non-Zionist; secular Jews as well as Jews of religious senSibility who find it difficult to declare their denominational affiliation. Contemporary Jewish ReligiOUS Thought does not reflect any ideological bias or preference. Rather it represents the plurality of Jewish life and pro- INTRODUCTION xv jects the healthy and balanced self-assurance that presently characterizes Jewish thought. While none of the essays suffers from a self-enclosed parochiality, they all avoid the propensity of classical as well as nineteenthand early-twentieth-century Jewish thought to assume an apologetic mode of discourse that had the deleterious effect of encouraging non-Jews (whether hostile or affectionate) to set the parameters, the terms of argument , and even the tone of Judaism's theological self-articulation. As editors of this volume we have undertaken to facilitate the nonapologetic character of its inquiry by deliberately excluding from the list of topics such antinomic themes from the lexicon of Jewish apologetics as "law and grace," "particularity and universalism," "justice and love." Such...