Finding God: Selected Responses

by Rifat Sonsino

Other authorsDaniel B. Syme
Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Call number

296.311 SON

Publication

Urj Press (2002), Edition: Revised, Paperback, 186 pages

Description

"This is a book about God, specifically about the different ways Jews have spoken of God throughout history. In its examination of 4,000 years of Jewish thought, it presents the broad spectrum of theological opinions that have been explored and affirmed by great Jewish thinkers, ancient and modern." "Many Jews today avoid speaking about God. Unable to accept the traditional notions presented to them as authoritative, they often turn to other faiths or cults that offer the possibility of spiritual expression more in keeping with their personal God concept. Unaware of the variety within Judaism, they abandon their religious community in the mistaken impression that their longing for God cannot be satisfied within the faith of their ancestors." "In this book, the authors skillfully present ten distinct Jewish theological perspectives, each of which has something to say to us today about our lives as individuals and as Jews. Each grapples with the following crucial questions: What is God? Is there more than one God? What is God's name? How can we know God? What is God's relationship to the world? Does God have a special relationship with the Jewish people? What does God "want" from us? How does God relate to me? Why is there evil in the world?" ""If we make it possible for one Jew to reclaim his or her Jewish spiritual identity," the authors write, "if we help others to begin to talk about God without ambivalence or embarrassment, if we serve as a catalyst for further study of these and other Jewish thinkers, we will consider our work worthwhile.""--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved… (more)

Barcode

1666

Language

User reviews

LibraryThing member Hankus36
Today the vast majority of American Jews are not Orthodox. Judaism does not have a fixed creed which tells us exactly how we must understand the nature of God and what we should expect of Him. There is a Rabbinic vision of the nature of God, but Jews who are not Orthodox and many who are nominally
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Conservative are not always comfortable with the Rabbinic vision and, indeed, the Torah says that the form and nature of God cannot be known or understood by man. This book describes ten ways, including the Rabbinic, in which Jews have and still do see God...Some of these infuriate traditional Orthodox Jews, who may equate any concepts other than the Rabbinical as either heresy or atheism, but their condemnation does not invalidate the thought of some of our greatest and best known scholars as described in this book. It is an invaluable reference for the Jew who is seeking a reconciliation between Judaism and his existance in the modern world.
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ISBN

0807407984 / 9780807407981
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