Toward a Jewish Theology Methods, Problems, and Possibilities
Author: | Sherwin, Byron |
Year: | 1992 |
Pages: | 200 |
ISBN: | 0-7734-9635-1 978-0-7734-9635-4 |
Price: | $159.95 |
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After establishing a vision of and a methodology for "doing" Jewish theology, that vision and methodology are applied to a number of issues of major theological concern. These include: love and law, awe of God, the problem of evil, Holocaust theology, theologies of the human body, theological ethics, and eschatology. Utilizing a remarkable range of classical sources from Hebrew Scriptures to Hasidim, Talmud to Jewish philosophy, medieval Jewish mysticism to contemporary political theology, this volume demonstrates how theology is an artform informed by erudite scholarship and honed by analytic skill. Provides new light on old texts, and applies those texts to the most current theological problems.
Reviews
". . . offers both the novice and professional theologian a rich, well researched, and challenging series of theological investigations. . . . Sherwin offers a perceptive and well documentaed account of how American and Israeli Jews have re-interpreted the significance of the Holocaust in the light of their distinctive secular agendas for Jewish survival. His subsequent critique of those agendas, and the distortions of Judaism to which they contribute, is cogently argued and well informed. . . . offers a lively and learned illustration of how Jewish theological discourse not only illuminates classical Jewish sources but also revitalizes the genre in novel retellings of familiar stories, constructive critiques of competeing ideologies, and the revisioning of neglected aspects of contemporary religious life in the mirror of tradition. These essays will be of interest to lay and professional readers alike, and deserve a wide readership." - Shofar
"This collection of thoughtful and accessible essays explores a wide range of theological and ethical themes: law and love, theodicy, the human body, the Holocaust, and eschatology. Sherwin is especially deft at weaving together his sources without glossing over tensions within the tradition. . . . .The value of the book is enhanced by its extensive notes, bibliography, and indexes." - Religious Studies Review