Louis Jacobs and the Quest for a Contemporary Jewish Theology

Louis Jacobs and the Quest for a Contemporary Jewish Theology
Author: Miri Freud-Kandel
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2023-10-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1802071164

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For Louis Jacobs, the quest—the process of engaging with and thinking about Jewish faith—was a lifelong pursuit. He offered a model in the 1960s, a period characterized by general religious crisis, of an observant, committed, but intellectually curious Judaism that empowered individual seekers to address challenges to faith. In Orthodox Judaism at the time a battle was under way for religious control. Generating a widespread controversy in British Jewry known as the ‘Jacobs Affair’, his thought offers a lens for examining the trajectory of Orthodoxy. In a contemporary context marked by the changing cultural and intellectual concerns of a ‘post-secular’ age, the focus of some of these debates over religious control has shifted. Yet Jacobs’ emphasis on a personal quest is as relevant as ever, perhaps more so. This first book-length analysis of his theology unpacks the building blocks of his thought. It argues that, despite its particularities and limitations, his approach can provide a powerful model for contemporary religious seekers in the context of a growing impetus away from established, denominationally bound forms of religion. Many orthodox believers across a range of faiths continue to prefer the certainty of unquestionable religious truth claims rather than pursuing a subjective search for religious meaning. For those seeking alternative models for the contemporary Jewish quest, a reconsideration of Jacobs’ theology can offer valuable tools.

A Traditional Quest

A Traditional Quest
Author: Dan Cohn-Sherbok
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 241
Release: 1991-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 056752728X

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Louis Jacobs has made a formidable contribution to Jewish scholarship over the last 40 years. In addition he has inspired a generation of students of Judaica as well as members of his own congregation at the New London Synagogue. The contributors to this volume in his honour include a wide range of distinguished scholars. Beginning with Jacob Neusner's essay on the transformation of the Dual Torah in the first four centuries CE, the volume ranges over a variety of topics in the field of Bible, Talmud, history and theology, mirroring the wide range of Louis Jacobs' own interests. In addition, a full bibliography of Louis Jacobs' publications is included.

Louis Jacobs and the Quest for a Contemporary Jewish Theology

Louis Jacobs and the Quest for a Contemporary Jewish Theology
Author: Miri Freud-Kandel
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2023-10-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1835533906

Download Louis Jacobs and the Quest for a Contemporary Jewish Theology Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

For Louis Jacobs, the quest—the process of engaging with and thinking about Jewish faith—was a lifelong pursuit. He offered a model in the 1960s, a period characterized by general religious crisis, of an observant, committed, but intellectually curious Judaism that empowered individual seekers to address challenges to faith. In Orthodox Judaism at the time a battle was under way for religious control. Generating a widespread controversy in British Jewry known as the ‘Jacobs Affair’, his thought offers a lens for examining the trajectory of Orthodoxy. In a contemporary context marked by the changing cultural and intellectual concerns of a ‘post-secular’ age, the focus of some of these debates over religious control has shifted. Yet Jacobs’ emphasis on a personal quest is as relevant as ever, perhaps more so. This first book-length analysis of his theology unpacks the building blocks of his thought. It argues that, despite its particularities and limitations, his approach can provide a powerful model for contemporary religious seekers in the context of a growing impetus away from established, denominationally bound forms of religion. Many orthodox believers across a range of faiths continue to prefer the certainty of unquestionable religious truth claims rather than pursuing a subjective search for religious meaning. For those seeking alternative models for the contemporary Jewish quest, a reconsideration of Jacobs’ theology can offer valuable tools.

A Jewish Theology

A Jewish Theology
Author: Louis Jacobs
Publisher: Behrman House Publishing
Total Pages: 356
Release: 1974
Genre: Jewish theology
ISBN:

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Faith Finding Meaning

Faith Finding Meaning
Author: Byron L. Sherwin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2013-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199978573

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Byron Sherwin demonstrates that Jewish theological thinking can be understood as a response to visceral existential issues and argues that human meaning and fulfillment can be discovered in the application of an authentic Jewish way of thinking and living.

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Author: Louis Jacobs
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 1999-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1909821373

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In this sequel to We Have Reason to Believe, Louis Jacobs examines afresh all the issues involved. He does so objectively but with passion, meeting the objections put forward over the past forty years by critics from the various trends within the Jewish world, both Orthodox and Reform, and inviting a new generation of readers to follow the argument and make up their own minds. More than forty years have passed since Louis Jacobs first published the still-controversial book We Have Reason to Believe, the work which led to his being outlawed by the Orthodox Jewish establishment. In this new book he examines afresh all the issues involved, meeting all the objections put forward from the various trends within the Jewish world so that readers can make up their own minds.

We Have Reason to Believe

We Have Reason to Believe
Author: Louis Jacobs
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2004
Genre: Judaism
ISBN: 9780853035602

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This book examines the basic beliefs of Judaism in light of modern thought. Its shape is traditional but not fundamentalist. This book, the main cause of the 'Jacobs Affair' in which the author's appointment to an Orthodox Rabbinic position was vetoed, suggests that the doctrine Torah Min Ha-Shamayyin (The Torah is from Heaven) needs to be reinterpreted so as not to be in conflict with modern knowledge. The controversy erupted again in the 1990s when Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks declared that those who hold views similar to the author's have severed links with the faith of their ancestors. This expanded fifth edition, with a Preface by William Frankel and a Retrospect of the 'Jacobs Affair' by the author, will enable readers to follow the argument and make up their own minds. In a recent poll conducted by the (London) Jewish Chronicle, Louis Jacobs was chosen as the 'Greatest British Jew.'

The Last Rabbi

The Last Rabbi
Author: William Kolbrener
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2016-09-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0253022320

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Joseph Soloveitchik (1903–1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, philosopher, and theologian. In this new work, William Kolbrener takes on Soloveitchik's controversial legacy and shows how he was torn between the traditionalist demands of his European ancestors and the trajectory of his own radical and often pluralist philosophy. A portrait of this self-professed "lonely man of faith" reveals him to be a reluctant modern who responds to the catastrophic trauma of personal and historical loss by underwriting an idiosyncratic, highly conservative conception of law that is distinct from his Talmudic predecessors, and also paves the way for a return to tradition that hinges on the ethical embrace of multiplicity. As Kolbrener melds these contradictions, he presents Soloveitchik as a good deal more complicated and conflicted than others have suggested. The Last Rabbi affords new perspective on the thought of this major Jewish philosopher and his ideas on the nature of religious authority, knowledge, and pluralism.

A Traditional Quest

A Traditional Quest
Author: Louis Jacobs
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 241
Release: 1991-01-01
Genre: Bible
ISBN: 1850752796

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The Book of Jewish Practice

The Book of Jewish Practice
Author: Louis Jacobs
Publisher: Behrman House, Inc
Total Pages: 166
Release: 1987
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780874414608

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Illustrations. explanations of why certain things are done in a particular way, contemporary applications and information on how to do things is thus made available.