This Was from God A Contemporary Theology of Torah and History [Hardcover]

Publicly or secretly, traditional Jews increasingly doubt the historical reliability of the Torah. Here, Gellman provides an old-fashioned Jewish theology for accepting the contemporary critique of Torah and history. Gellman presents an outline of the scholarly conclusions, and then examines faith responses and rejects apologetic attempts to evade the challenge. The book elucidates the notions of Divine Providence and Divine Accommodation that then provide a basis for the thesis that for centuries Divine Providence has been guiding toward a non-historical, non-literal understanding of the Torah. This was from God. Gellman advocates Hasidic-type non-literal approaches as most fitting for our times. Then, in light of the book's thesis, Gellman offers his understanding of Torah from Heaven, prayer, and the continuing validity of the commandments, for present-day traditional Judaism.This Was from Goddeftly combines intellectual honesty, philosophical rigor, and pietya piety that is, in the deepest and most admirable sense of the term, a simple one. Gellmans bold proposals regarding the true nature of the information scripture provides will, paradoxically, strike some liberal theologians as rather too liberal and some traditionalists as too traditional. Thus Gellman challenges many readers in ways that they are not expecting to be challenged. Many of us will find that both our faith and our critical outlook grow deeper as a result of this book. The breadth of material Gellman synthesizes is remarkable: western philosophy, biblical scholarship, rabbinic texts, kabbalah, and medieval and modern Jewish philosophy. And yet Gellman wears this learning lightly in a book that is surprisingly well written and accessible.Jerome Yehuda Gellmanis Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Honorary Professor at Australian Catholic University. He has published widely in analytic philosophy of religion and in constructive Jewish theol“+