Kabbalah and Ecology God's Image in the More-Than-Human World [Hardcover]

Kabbalah and Ecology resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions.Kabbalah and Ecology resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions. David Mevorach Seidenberg challenges the anthropocentric reading of the Torah, showing that a radically different orientation to the more-than-human world of nature leads to a more accurate interpretation of scripture, rabbinic texts, Maimonides, and Kabbalah.Kabbalah and Ecology resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions. David Mevorach Seidenberg challenges the anthropocentric reading of the Torah, showing that a radically different orientation to the more-than-human world of nature leads to a more accurate interpretation of scripture, rabbinic texts, Maimonides, and Kabbalah.Kabbalah and Ecology is a groundbreaking book that resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions. David Mevorach Seidenberg challenges the anthropocentric reading of the Torah, showing that a radically different orientation to the more-than-human world of nature is not only possible, but that it also leads to a more accurate interpretation of scripture, rabbinic texts, Maimonides, and Kabbalah. Deeply grounded in traditional texts and fluent with the physical sciences, this book proposes not only a new understanding of God's image but also a new direction to restore religion  to its senses and to a more alive relationship with the more than human, with nature and with divinity.Acknowledgments; Notes on translation, transliteration, and bibliography; Overview of Kabbalah and Ecology; Introduction. Jewish ecological thought and the challenge for scriptural theology; Part I. Midrash: 1. Tselem Elohim (God's image) in Midrash and commentary, part 1: the angels and the heavens, the chain of Being, intellect and speech; 2. Tselem Elohim in Midrash and commentary, part 2: the body, gender, dominion, and ethics; 3. Tselem, dignity, and the 'infinite value' of the other; 4. The soull“"