Jewish Theology and Process Thought

by Sandra B. Lubarsky (Editor), David Ray Griffin (Editor)

Overview

This collection constitutes the first extended discussion of the relationship between Judaism and process thought. In the last half century the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne have become important sources for contemporary theological reflection. Recently, a number of Jewish thinkers have examined process thought as a potentially valuable resource for postmodern Jewish theology. This book brings together many Jewish thinkers who have pioneered this discussion.

Jewish thinkers who have found process thought to be a useful framework for contemporary Jewish thought discuss issues that are primarily theological, such as God's transcendence and immanence, the problem of evil, the idea of revelation. Also included is a dialogue between Jewish and Christian thinkers on the appropriateness of process thought for their religious traditions. Critical reflection on the continuities and discontinuities between Judaism and the process model is also covered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781438411361
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Series:	SUNY series in Constructive Postmodern Thought
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	316
File size:	57 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Sandra B. Lubarsky is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at Northern Arizona University. She is the author of Tolerance and Transformation: Jewish Approaches to Religious Pluralism. David Ray Griffin is Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Theology at the School of Theology at Claremont and Claremont Graduate School. In addition to editing the SUNY Press series in Constructive Postmodern Thought, he has published several books with SUNY Press, having authored God and Religion in the Postmodern World: Essays in Postmodern Theology and Evil Revisited: Responses and Reconsiderations, coauthored Primordial Truth and Postmodern Theology; Varieties of Postmodern Theology; and Founders of Constructive Postmodern Philosophy: Peirce, James, Bergson, Whitehead, and Hartshorne; edited The Reenchantment of Science: Postmodern Proposals; Spirituality and Society: Postmodern Visions; Sacred Interconnections: Postmodern Spirituality, Political Economy, and Art; and Physics and the Ultimate Significance of Time: Bohm, Prigogine, and Process Philosophy; and coedited Theology and the University: Essays in Honor of John B. Cobb, Jr.; and Postmodern Politics for a Planet in Crisis: Policy, Process, and Presidential Vision.

Table of Contents

Introduction to SUNY Series in Constructive Postmodern Thought
David Ray Griffin

Introduction
Sandra B. Lubarsky

PART I: JEWISH THEOLOGY AND PROCESS THOUGHT

1. The Prophetic Faith in a Secular Age
Levi A. Olan

2. A Process Theory of Torah and Mitzvot
Sol Tanenzapf

3. Judaism and Process Thought: Between Naturalism and Supernaturalism
Sandra B. Lubarsky

4. Judaism and Process Theology: Parallel Concerns and Challenging Tensions
William E. Kaufman

5. The "Essence" of Judaism: A Process-Relational Critique
Lori Krafte-Jacobs

6. Would an All-Powerful God Be Worthy of Worship?
Harold S. Kushner

PART II: JEWISH-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE ON PROCESS THOUGHT

7. Process Theodicy, Christology, and the Imitatio Dei
David Ray Griffin

8. Theodicy in Jewish Philosophy and David Griffin's Process Theology
Norbert M. Samuelson

9. The Concept of God after Auschwitz: A Jewish Voice
Hans Jonas

10. Hans Jonas as Process Theologian
John B. Cobb, Jr.

11. Reversing the Reversal: Convenant and Election in Jewish and Process Thought
Clark M. Williamson

12. In the Presence of Mystery: Process Theology and Interfaith Relations
Anson Laytner

13. Rabbinic Text Process Theology
Peter W. Ochs

14. The Organic Relation Between Natural and Text Process Theologies
John B. Cobb, Jr.

15. Biblical Hermeneutics and Process Thought
William A. Beardslee

16. Living Torah: A Response to William Beardslee
Nahum Ward

17. Hylotheism: A Theology of Pure Process
Alvin J. Reines

18. Modern and Postmodern Liberal Theology: A Response to Alvin Reines
David Ray Griffin

Notes on Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

A collection of essays on the relationships, both positive and negative, between Judaism and the metaphysical cosmologies of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne known as process thought. Jewish thinkers who have found process thought to be a useful framework for contemporary Jewish thought discuss issues that are primarily theological, such as God's transcendence and immanence, the problem of evil, and the idea of revelation. Also included is a dialogue between Jewish and Christian thinkers on the appropriateness of process thought for their religious traditions. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"This book represents the first serious and systematic encounter between Judaism and process thought yet offered. The essays are uniformly insightful. Indeed, the essays by persons trained explicitly in process thought are particularly important for introducing this area of theology to Jewish readers, both lay and academic. As Lubarsky indicates in her introduction, this is particularly important because process thought may well make seminal contributions to the development of Jewish thought in the future. This book will be an important and crucial stimulus to that development." —David Ellenson, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

From the Publisher