Download or read book Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life written by Hilary Putnam and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-19 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Distinguished philosopher Hilary Putnam, who is also a practicing Jew, questions the thought of three major Jewish philosophers of the 20th century—Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas—to help him reconcile the philosophical and religious sides of his life. An additional presence in the book is Ludwig Wittgenstein, who, although not a practicing Jew, thought about religion in ways that Putnam juxtaposes to the views of Rosenzweig, Buber, and Levinas. Putnam explains the leading ideas of each of these great thinkers, bringing out what, in his opinion, constitutes the decisive intellectual and spiritual contributions of each of them. Although the religion discussed is Judaism, the depth and originality of these philosophers, as incisively interpreted by Putnam, make their thought nothing less than a guide to life.
Download or read book The Thinking Jewish Teenager s Guide to Life written by Akiva Tatz and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book powerfully explains some of the deepest concepts in Judaism, demonstrating how those ideas and principles can, and should, guide decisions, relationships and growth to real maturity. There's no 'talking down' here; there's just straight inspiration, depth, and many answers.
Download or read book The Jewish Philosophy Reader written by Daniel H. Frank and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Chomprehensive anthology of classic writings on Jewish philosophy from the Bible to postmodernism.
Download or read book The Good and the Good Book written by Samuel Fleischacker and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religions that center around a revelation--or a 'good book', which is seen as God's word--are widely regarded as irrational and dangerous, based on outdated science and conducive to illiberal, inhumane moral attitudes. Samuel Fleischacker offers a powerful defense of revealed religion, and reconciles it with science and liberal morality.
Download or read book The Book of Jewish Values written by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rabbi Joseph Telushkin combed the Bible, the Talmud, and the whole spectrum of Judaism's sacred writings to give us a manual on how to lead a decent, kind, and honest life in a morally complicated world. "An absolutely superb book: the most practical, most comprehensive guide to Jewish values I know." —Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People Telushkin speaks to the major ethical issues of our time, issues that have, of course, been around since the beginning. He offers one or two pages a day of pithy, wise, and easily accessible teachings designed to be put into immediate practice. The range of the book is as broad as life itself: • The first trait to seek in a spouse (Day 17) • When, if ever, lying is permitted (Days 71-73) • Why acting cheerfully is a requirement, not a choice (Day 39) • What children don't owe their parents (Day 128) • Whether Jews should donate their organs (Day 290) • An effective but expensive technique for curbing your anger (Day 156) • How to raise truthful children (Day 298) • What purchases are always forbidden (Day 3) In addition, Telushkin raises issues with ethical implications that may surprise you, such as the need to tip those whom you don't see (Day 109), the right thing to do when you hear an ambulance siren (Day 1), and why wasting time is a sin (Day 15). Whether he is telling us what Jewish tradition has to say about insider trading or about the relationship between employers and employees, he provides fresh inspiration and clear guidance for every day of our lives.
Download or read book Maimonides written by Moshe Halbertal and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-24 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and accessible account of the life and thought of Judaism's most celebrated philosopher Maimonides was the greatest Jewish philosopher and legal scholar of the medieval period, a towering figure who has had a profound and lasting influence on Jewish law, philosophy, and religious consciousness. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to his life and work, revealing how his philosophical sensibility and outlook informed his interpretation of Jewish tradition. Moshe Halbertal vividly describes Maimonides's childhood in Muslim Spain, his family's flight to North Africa to escape persecution, and their eventual resettling in Egypt. He draws on Maimonides's letters and the testimonies of his contemporaries, both Muslims and Jews, to offer new insights into his personality and the circumstances that shaped his thinking. Halbertal then turns to Maimonides's legal and philosophical work, analyzing his three great books—Commentary on the Mishnah, the Mishneh Torah, and the Guide of the Perplexed. He discusses Maimonides's battle against all attempts to personify God, his conviction that God's presence in the world is mediated through the natural order rather than through miracles, and his locating of philosophy and science at the summit of the religious life of Torah. Halbertal examines Maimonides's philosophical positions on fundamental questions such as the nature and limits of religious language, creation and nature, prophecy, providence, the problem of evil, and the meaning of the commandments. A stunning achievement, Maimonides offers an unparalleled look at the life and thought of this important Jewish philosopher, scholar, and theologian.
Download or read book Levinas Buber written by Peter Atterton and published by Duquesne. This book was released on 2004 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emmanuel Levinas and Martin Buber -- considered by many the most important Jewish philosophers since the 12th century sage Maimonides -- knew each other as associates and friends. Yet although their dialogue was instructive at times, and demonstrated the esteem in which Levinas held Buber, in particular, their relationship just as often exhibited a failure to communicate. This volume of essays is intended to resume the important dialogue between the two. Thriteen essays by a wide range of scholars do not attempt to assimilate the two philosopher's respective views to each other. Rather, these discussions provide an occasion to examine their genuine differences -- difference that both Levinas and Buber agreed were required for genuine dialogue to begin.
Download or read book Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Its Literary Forms written by Aaron W. Hughes and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-11 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This well-written, accessible [essay] collection demonstrates a maturation in Jewish studies and medieval philosophy” (Choice). Too often the study of philosophical texts is carried out in ways that do not pay significant attention to how the ideas contained within them are presented, articulated, and developed. This was not always the case. The contributors to this collected work consider Jewish philosophy in the medieval period, when new genres and forms of written expression were flourishing in the wake of renewed interest in ancient philosophy. Many medieval Jewish philosophers were highly accomplished poets, for example, and made conscious efforts to write in a poetic style. This volume turns attention to the connections that medieval Jewish thinkers made between the literary, the exegetical, the philosophical, and the mystical to shed light on the creativity and diversity of medieval thought. As they broaden the scope of what counts as medieval Jewish philosophy, the essays collected here consider questions about how an argument is formed, how text is put into the service of philosophy, and the social and intellectual environment in which philosophical texts were produced.
Download or read book The Essential Guide to Jewish Prayer and Practices written by Andrea Lieber Ph.D. and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insightful and illuminating guide to Judaism's basic tenets and practices. The Essential Guide to Jewish Prayer and Practices offers a more profound understanding of Judaism-for practicing Jews and non-Jews alike-by explaining the key concepts of Jewish thought, including the sanctity of human life, Judaism's concept of God, and the role of the Torah in guiding Jewish spiritual life. Judaic studies scholar Andrea Lieber introduces readers to the form of Jewish prayer-the structure of Jewish worship and the different kinds of prayers that make up Jewish liturgy. • The perfect guide for Jewish spirituality for affiliated and non- practicing Jews as well as people of other faiths • Provides essential knowledge of the meaning of the Torah and the rituals of worship and prayer
Download or read book How to Live a Good Life written by Massimo Pigliucci and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays by fifteen philosophers presenting a thoughtful, introductory guide to choosing a philosophy for living an examined and meaningful life. Socrates famously said "the unexamined life is not worth living," but what does it mean to truly live philosophically? This thought-provoking, wide-ranging collection brings together essays by fifteen leading philosophers reflecting on what it means to live according to a philosophy of life. From Eastern philosophies (Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism) and classical Western philosophies (such as Aristotelianism and Stoicism), to the four major religions, as well as contemporary philosophies (such as existentialism and effective altruism), each contributor offers a lively, personal account of how they find meaning in the practice of their chosen philosophical tradition. Together, the pieces in How to Live a Good Life provide not only a beginner's guide to choosing a life philosophy but also a timely portrait of what it means to live an examined life in the twenty-first century. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL
Download or read book Jewish Ethics for the Twenty First Century written by Byron L. Sherwin and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2000-03-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this highly provocative and informed work, Byron L. Sherwin, one of the leading Jewish ethicists of our time, demonstrates how the wisdom of the past—found in classical texts that form Jewish religious tradition—can forcefully address the moral perplexities of the present. In setting out a contemporary agenda for Jewish ethics, Sherwin debunks common misconceptions about Jewish ethics and distinguishes between the ethics of Judaism and various forms of secular and religious ethics. He shows, for example, how the ethics of Judaism and the ethics of Jews often are at odds, how the Judeo-Christian ethic is an obsolete myth, and how Jewish and G:hristian ethics radically differ both in terms of their theological assumptions and in their applied methodologies. Sherwin delineates a methodology for Jewish ethics, which he applies to a wide variety of issues such as health and healing, euthanasia, reproductive biotechnology, cloning, parent-child relationships, economic justice, repentance or "moral rehabilitation," and the relationship between humans and machines. Drawing on a wide range of biblical, rabbinical, Jewish philosophical and kabbalistic sources, Jewish Ethics for the Twenty-First Century links the biblical term "image of God" to moral freedom, human creativity and the challenge of becoming God's "partner in creation" and a coauthor of the Torah.
Download or read book Is There a Jewish Philosophy written by Leon Roth and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leon Roth (1896-1963) was the first professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He saw it as his purpose to encourage his students to think, and to think about their Judaism. Typical of his approach is the question with which this text opens: in what sense can we talk about Jewish philosophy, and what can we expect to find if we look for it? Defining philosophy as 'the search, through thought, for the permanent', the volume argues that in order to say whether there is a truly Jewish philosophy, one has to 'rethink fundamentals': those elements in our lives, in history, in nature which appear to be not incidental and trivial but basic. The twelve essays published here represent a selection of Roth's explorations of various aspects of his theme.
Download or read book Maimonides and the Book That Changed Judaism written by Micah Goodman and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A publishing sensation long at the top of the best-seller lists in Israel, the original Hebrew edition of Maimonides and the Book That Changed Judaism has been called the most successful book ever published in Israel on the preeminent medieval Jewish thinker Moses Maimonides. The works of Maimonides, particularly The Guide for the Perplexed, are reckoned among the fundamental texts that influenced all subsequent Jewish philosophy and also proved to be highly influential in Christian and Islamic thought. Spanning subjects ranging from God, prophecy, miracles, revelation, and evil, to politics, messianism, reason in religion, and the therapeutic role of doubt, Maimonides and the Book That Changed Judaism elucidates the complex ideas of The Guide in remarkably clear and engaging prose. Drawing on his own experience as a central figure in the current Israeli renaissance of Jewish culture and spirituality, Micah Goodman brings Maimonides's masterwork into dialogue with the intellectual and spiritual worlds of twenty-first-century readers. Goodman contends that in Maimonides's view, the Torah's purpose is not to bring clarity about God but rather to make us realize that we do not understand God at all; not to resolve inscrutable religious issues but to give us insight into the true nature and purpose of our lives.
Download or read book Spinoza s Challenge to Jewish Thought written by Daniel B. Schwartz and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguably, no historical thinker has had as varied and fractious a reception within modern Judaism as Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza (1632-77), the seventeenth-century philosopher, pioneering biblical critic, and Jewish heretic from Amsterdam. Revered in many circles as the patron saint of secular Jewishness, he has also been branded as the worst traitor to the Jewish people in modern times. Jewish philosophy has cast Spinoza as marking a turning point between the old and the new, as a radicalizer of the medieval tradition and table setter for the modern. He has served as a perennial landmark and point of reference in the construction of modern Jewish identity. This volume brings together excerpts from central works in the Jewish response to Spinoza. True to the diversity of Spinoza's Jewish reception, it features a mix of genres, from philosophical criticism to historical fiction, from tributes to diary entries, providing the reader with a sense of the overall historical development of Spinoza's posthumous legacy.
Download or read book Living Inspired written by Akiva Tatz and published by Feldheim Publishers. This book was released on 1993 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows how an understanding of some of the deeper ideas and patterns of Torah thought can illuminate our everyday experiences.
Download or read book The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History Religion and Culture written by Judith R. Baskin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-12 with total page 559 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture is a comprehensive and engaging overview of Jewish life, from its origins in the ancient Near East to its impact on contemporary popular culture. The twenty-one essays, arranged historically and thematically, and written specially for this volume by leading scholars, examine the development of Judaism and the evolution of Jewish history and culture over many centuries and in a range of locales. They emphasize the ongoing diversity and creativity of the Jewish experience. Unlike previous anthologies, which concentrate on elite groups and expressions of a male-oriented rabbinic culture, this volume also includes the range of experiences of ordinary people and looks at the lives and achievements of women in every place and era. The many illustrations, maps, timeline, and glossary of important terms enhance this book's accessibility to students and general readers.
Download or read book Living in the Presence written by Benjamin Epstein and published by Urim Publications. This book was released on 2020-01-02 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In our frantic, fast paced society, we need constant guidance to remind us that we can only find the peace of mind we sorely lack by looking inward. Judaism, like many other spiritual traditions, offers a unique path to cultivating fulfillment and presence of mind. In cultivating peace of mind, we do not aim to achieve transcendence. Rather, our goal is to enter fully into whatever is occurring in our lives and meet it with full presence. But being a better Jew and a happier person are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they are mutually interdependent. From the moment we wake to the moment we fall asleep, biblical commandments provide us with guidelines that encourage us to be aware of the present moment. A Guide to Jewish Mindfulness provides concise and clear instructions on how to cultivate peace of mind in order to attain a life of greater commitment and inspiration for the present moment.
