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7 Reaching for Transcendence ANY lEWS aIe inhibited from seeking a theological position between the absolutism of Orthodoxy and the modernist immanentism of the non-Orthodoxies by Mordecai Kaplan's insistence that we must make a stark choice between naturalism and supernaturalism in religion. Since Kaplan considered supernaturalism incompatible with modern culturet he assumed that Jews confronted by this dichotomy would adopt naturalism. In the postmodern ;:thos, with Kaplan's naturalism another discredited humanism, his forced choice has led many Jews to supernaturalisms. Is there not a third possibility that eluded Kaplan but that we find true? Moving Back from a Functional God to a Real God The differing views of two of Kaplants disciples, Harold Schulweis and William Kaufman, should help us better understand the religious values at stake in seeking this different theological path. Sehulweis has revitalized Kaplan's humanocentric religiosity by his "predicate theology." Schulweis proposes that we give up thinking of God as something other than ourselves, for that inevitably entangles us in the insolubilities of theodicy. Instead, he wants us to use the term "God" as a collective symbol for all that Wt~ find hi.ghest in human existence, particularly morality. Thus, we should begin our theologizing with those human acts or demeanors that Wt~ consider "Godly" and have them in mind when we say "God." This would God the reality of observable behaviors and the relevance of our idealsbut not the substance that would allow God to be blamed for evil occurring or justice not done. This view not only shares Kaplan's anthropocentricity but his confidence that what constitutes human fulfillment and moral obligation are self-evident. But once we move beyond ethical platitudes and in-group expectations to face personal or social issues, little could more problematic in OUI time of radical ethical pluralism and doubt. Schulweis, for all his acuity, has not thus far addressed the problem perplexing contemporary ethical philosophers: the foundations of our ethics. He provides no argument for their 95 7 Reaching for Transcendence ANY lEWS aIe inhibited from seeking a theological position between the absolutism of Orthodoxy and the modernist immanentism of the non-Orthodoxies by Mordecai Kaplan's insistence that we must make a stark choice between naturalism and supernaturalism in religion. Since Kaplan considered supernaturalism incompatible with modern culturet he assumed that Jews confronted by this dichotomy would adopt naturalism. In the postmodern ;:thos, with Kaplan's naturalism another discredited humanism, his forced choice has led many Jews to supernaturalisms. Is there not a third possibility that eluded Kaplan but that we find true? Moving Back from a Functional God to a Real God The differing views of two of Kaplants disciples, Harold Schulweis and William Kaufman, should help us better understand the religious values at stake in seeking this different theological path. Sehulweis has revitalized Kaplan's humanocentric religiosity by his "predicate theology." Schulweis proposes that we give up thinking of God as something other than ourselves, for that inevitably entangles us in the insolubilities of theodicy. Instead, he wants us to use the term "God" as a collective symbol for all that Wt~ find hi.ghest in human existence, particularly morality. Thus, we should begin our theologizing with those human acts or demeanors that Wt~ consider "Godly" and have them in mind when we say "God." This would God the reality of observable behaviors and the relevance of our idealsbut not the substance that would allow God to be blamed for evil occurring or justice not done. This view not only shares Kaplan's anthropocentricity but his confidence that what constitutes human fulfillment and moral obligation are self-evident. But once we move beyond ethical platitudes and in-group expectations to face personal or social issues, little could more problematic in OUI time of radical ethical pluralism and doubt. Schulweis, for all his acuity, has not thus far addressed the problem perplexing contemporary ethical philosophers: the foundations of our ethics. He provides no argument for their 95 96 A POSTLIBERAL THEOLOGY OF JEWISH DUTY commonality other than their usefulness. Kaplan, acknowledging this difficulty, claimed that there was a scientific basis for this moral view of human nature, that studying behavior showed that people naturally seek to develop their potential to the fullest. Religious thinkers extend this finding with merely their healthy-minded faith that morality inheres in the universe itself. Schulweis does not reiterate this argument of Kaplan's to bolster his own redefinition of "God," almost certainly because he knows it to...

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