Contemplative Nation by Fisher Cass

Author:Fisher, Cass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2012-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

CONCLUSION

My principal goal in Contemplative Nation has been to develop a model of Jewish theological language that can overcome the view that theology is not an integral part of the Jewish religious life; a view that stubbornly persists regardless of significant work in biblical, rabbinic, and mystical theology, modern Jewish thought, post-Holocaust and feminist theology. One factor perpetuating the antitheological approach to Judaism is the claim that theology is inherently systematic and dogmatic and Jewish thought about God does not typically exhibit these features. As a corrective to such arguments that seek to brush aside millennia of theological reflection, I have set forth an account of Jewish theology that emphasizes the diverse functions and multiple forms of Jewish theological language and which draws a more complex picture of the relationship between reflection and religious practice in Judaism. While I hope my model of Jewish Theological Practice (JTP) will prove useful for the purposes of constructive theology, my present concern has been to demonstrate the heuristic virtues of the model by deploying it in close readings of Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael and The Star of Redemption. Although I believe the model possesses the flexibility to be successfully deployed at any stage of the Jewish tradition, there is no compelling way to defend that claim within the confines of a single volume. I have, therefore, chosen the radically different genres of an early rabbinic biblical commentary and a modern philosophical theology as a means of demonstrating JTP’s ability to adapt to texts constructed on the basis of distinct discursive forms and cognitive presuppositions. Benefits of this diachronic approach include the opportunity to make comparative observations about the conditions for a rich Jewish theological reflection and the opportunity to analyze the changes in the belief-forming practices that constitute Jewish theology as it traverses significant historical and cultural distance. With these points in mind, I will assess the merits of JTP from three perspectives. First, I will summarize what I take to be the most important contributions that JTP has made to the study of rabbinic theology and the work of Franz Rosenzweig. Second, on the basis of my analysis of Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael and The Star of Redemption, I will make a few brief comparative remarks to highlight the resources within JTP for thinking about Jewish theology across the common disciplinary boundaries marked by historical period and philosophical and religious outlook. Finally, I will return my attention to JTP itself and consider how it addresses long-standing problems in the study of Jewish theology and the ways in which it might advance future research on the topic.

Although the Mekhilta represents only a small sample of rabbinic literature, it is my hope that my theological reading of the text will help derail suggestions that the rabbis’ theological reflection was half-hearted and underdeveloped speculation, or that their theological discourse was directed toward the religious formation of the laity and that theology was not a vital intellectual and religious concern of the rabbis themselves. Stated positively,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.