Holiness in Jewish Thought

2018-01-26 Religion

Author : Alan L. Mittleman
Release : 2018-01-26
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 523/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Holiness in Jewish Thought by : Alan L. Mittleman

Download or read book Holiness in Jewish Thought written by Alan L. Mittleman. This book was released on 2018-01-26. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Holiness is a challenge for contemporary Jewish thought. The concept of holiness is crucial to religious discourse in general and to Jewish discourse in particular. "Holiness" seems to express an important feature of religious thought and of religious ways of life. Yet the concept is ill defined. This collection explores what concepts of holiness were operative in different periods of Jewish history and bodies of Jewish literature and offers preliminary reflections on their theological and philosophical import today. The contributors illumine some of the major episodes concerning holiness in the development of the Jewish tradition. They are challenged to think about the problems and potential implicit in Judaic concepts of holiness, to make them explicit, and to try to retrieve the concepts for contemporary theological and philosophical reflection. Not all of the contributors push into philosophical and theological territory, but they all provide resources for the reader to do so. Holiness is elusive but it need not be opaque. This volume makes Jewish concepts of holiness lucid, accessible, and intellectually engaging.

Does Judaism Condone Violence?

2018-08-28 Social Science

Author : Alan L. Mittleman
Release : 2018-08-28
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 237/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Does Judaism Condone Violence? by : Alan L. Mittleman

Download or read book Does Judaism Condone Violence? written by Alan L. Mittleman. This book was released on 2018-08-28. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A philosophical case against religious violence We live in an age beset by religiously inspired violence. Terms such as “holy war” are the stock-in-trade of the evening news. But what is the relationship between holiness and violence? Can acts such as murder ever truly be described as holy? In Does Judaism Condone Violence?, Alan Mittleman offers a searching philosophical investigation of such questions in the Jewish tradition. Jewish texts feature episodes of divinely inspired violence, and the position of the Jews as God’s chosen people has been invoked to justify violent acts today. Are these justifications valid? Or does our understanding of the holy entail an ethic that argues against violence? Reconstructing the concept of the holy through a philosophical examination of biblical texts, Mittleman finds that the holy and the good are inextricably linked, and that our experience of holiness is authenticated through its moral consequences. Our understanding of the holy develops through reflection on God’s creation of the natural world, and our values emerge through our relations with that world. Ultimately, Mittleman concludes, religious justifications for violence cannot be sustained. Lucid and incisive, Does Judaism Condone Violence? is a powerful counterargument to those who claim that the holy is irrational and amoral. With philosophical implications that extend far beyond the Jewish tradition, this book should be read by anyone concerned about the troubling connection between holiness and violence.

Purity and Holiness

2020-01-29 Religion

Author : Marcel Poorthuis
Release : 2020-01-29
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 394/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Purity and Holiness by : Marcel Poorthuis

Download or read book Purity and Holiness written by Marcel Poorthuis. This book was released on 2020-01-29. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Purity has long been recognized as one of the essential drives which determines humankind's relationship with the holy. Codes of purity and impurity, dealing with such far-ranging topics as 'external stains' and 'inner remorse', represent the physical and 'bodily' side of religious experience and provide the key to the understanding of human orientation to nature, and the structure of society, including even relationships between the sexes. Starting with the Hebrew Bible, a number of articles study some rather neglected passages from both exegetical and cultural-anthropological standpoints. Next, it is shown that the concept of purity is far more central to the New Testament than previously thought. Luke is portrayed as a Jewish-oriented writer. The discussion of purity in Mark is compared with Rabbinical and Qumranic material. Patristic discussions of purity reflect both allegorical and literal interpretations, while rabbinical rulings display a fine sense for detail and realia. Biblical references to illness are interpreted both in Christian and Jewish traditions as a metaphor for immoral behavior. The present collection of studies proceeds far beyond other collections on purity, studying both the medieval and modern periods. Purity rules, in both Christian and Jewish society, do not disappear in the Middle Ages, but become increasingly stronger. Sometimes there appear unexpected and surprising similarities between both societies. Modern society sees a decline in the importance of purity, reflecting a growing ambiguous attitude to the relationship between the body and the holy. A feminist perspective is also provided, examining the intertwined relationship between religion, gender and power. Exegesis, archaeology, liturgy, anthropology and even architecture are all used to study the complex phenomena of purity in their religious and social dimensions from both Christian and Jewish perspectives.

Everyday Holiness

2008-12-02 Religion

Author : Alan Morinis
Release : 2008-12-02
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 210/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Everyday Holiness by : Alan Morinis

Download or read book Everyday Holiness written by Alan Morinis. This book was released on 2008-12-02. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mussar is an illuminating, approachable, and highly practical set of teachings for cultivating personal growth and spiritual realization in the midst of day-to-day life. Here is an accessible and inspiring introduction to this Jewish spiritual path, which until lately has been best known in the world of Orthodox Judaism. The core teaching of Mussar is that our deepest essence is inherently pure and holy, but this inner radiance is obscured by extremes of emotion, desire, and bad habits. Our work in life is to uncover the brilliant light of the soul. The Mussar masters developed transformative teachings and practices—some of which are contemplative, some of which focus on how we relate to others in daily life—to help us to heal and refine ourselves.

Holiness

2002-08-26 History

Author : Hannah K. Harrington
Release : 2002-08-26
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 880/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Holiness by : Hannah K. Harrington

Download or read book Holiness written by Hannah K. Harrington. This book was released on 2002-08-26. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth exploration of holiness in the context of rabbinic Judaism, providing a much-needed comparative view during a key period in the development of the Jewish religion.

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