Science and Religion (Torah u-Madda) in Modern Jewish Thought: An Overview

This English version of an essay published in Hebrew in 1988 offers a well-informed and insightful typology of the various positions on the cardinal issue of the relationship between Torah, in the sense of the totality of traditional Jewish learning and commitment, and scientific knowledge. It distinguishes and analyzes six fundamental positions: the delimiting approach; rigorous separation; the theory of separate domains; the interpretive approach; the dialectic approach; and the transcendental approach. It dwells especially on the positions of Yeshayahu Leibowitz and R. Abraham Isaac Kook.