Radical Judaism_ Rethinking God and Tradition - Arthur Green [0]
The Franz Rosenzweig Lectures in Jewish Theology
and History are sponsored by the Program in Judaic
Studies at Yale University. The Lectures were established
in 1987 by the Estate of Arthur A. Cohen and
are named for theologian Franz Rosenzweig.
Other Volumes in the
Franz Rosenzweig Lecture Series
Available from Yale University Press
Canon and Creativity: Modern Writing and the Authority
of Scripture, by Robert Alter
German Jews: A Dual Identity, by Paul Mendes-Flohr
Freud's Moses: Judaism Terminable and Interminable,
by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
ARTHUR GREEN
Radical Judaism
Rethinking God and Tradition
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS · NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
Published with assistance from the Lewis Stern
Memorial Fund and from the Franz Rosenzweig
Lectures in Jewish Theology and History Fund in the
Program in Judaic Studies at Yale University.
Copyright © 2010 by Arthur Green.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part,
including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying
permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright
Law and except by reviewers for the public press),
without written permission from the publishers.
Set in Janson Oldstyle by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Green, Arthur, 1941-
Radical Judaism : rethinking God and tradition /
Arthur Green.
p. cm. — (Franz Rosenzweig lecture series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-15232-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. God (Judaism) 2. Spiritual life—Judaism.
3. Judaism—Doctrines. I. Title.
BM610.G74 2010
296.3’11—dc22 2009033195
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Kathy,
beyond Kabbalah
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1 Y-H-W-H: God and Being
2 Evolution Continues: A Jewish History of “God”
3 Torah: Word out of Silence
4 Israel: Being Human, Being Jewish
Notes
Glossary
Index
PREFACE
This book is an expansion of the Franz Rosenzweig Lectures at Yale University, delivered in the fall of 2006. Funding for these lectures was provided from the estate of the late Arthur Cohen, himself a significant figure in American Jewish religious thought. I am grateful to the Yale faculty in Judaic studies, especially Paula Hyman and Ivan Marcus, for their invitation, hospitality, and encouragement.
Because the lectureship was named for Rosenzweig, I felt it appropriate to reflect on the themes of God, Torah, and Israel, complementing my earlier discussions, in Seek My Face, Speak My Name: A Contemporary Jewish Theology (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1992), of Creation, Revelation, and Redemption, thus retracing the well-known Rosenzweigian Star.
The book before you represents some four years as my major intellectual project. In a sense it concludes a theological trilogy that began with Seek My Face and continued in EHYEH: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow (2006). I undertook this project while working as dean, and more recently as rector, of the Hebrew College Rabbinical School, which I helped to establish in 2003. I am grateful to my colleagues and students for both inspiration and questioning, but also for allowing me time to work on this book.
My acceptance of the Yale invitation gave me a chance to respond to a challenge by my old friend Arnold Eisen. He said to me, during one of our walks around Jerusalem: “You write serious theology in books addressed to seekers. When are you going to write theology for theologians?” I cannot say this book is entirely that, but I did try to include enough reflection on my premises and my use of sources to satisfy some of his demand. Because of that, I had dedicated the lectures to Eisen. I continue to have him in mind in the book, though I know he will not mind my dedicating it to my wife, who has been my first reader — and so much