Judaism and ecology : created world and revealed word / edited by Hava Tirosh-Samuelson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Tirosh-Samuelson, Hava, 1950-

Series:

Religions of the world and ecology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human ecology--Religious aspects--Judaism.

Human ecology.

Nature--Religious aspects--Judaism.

Nature.

Physical Description:

lxii, 515 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, [2002]

Summary:

Jewish ecological discourse has shown that Judaism harbors deep concern for the well-being of the natural world. However, the movement has not articulated a Jewish theology of nature, nor has it submitted the sources of Judaism to a systematic, philosophical examination. This volume intends to contribute to the nascent discourse on Judaism and ecology by clarifying diverse conceptions of nature in Jewish thought and by using the insights of Judaism to formulate a constructive Jewish theology of nature. The twenty-one contributors consider the Bible and rabbinic literature, examine the relationship between the doctrine of creation and the doctrine of revelation in the context of natural law, and wrestle with questions of nature and morality. They look at nature in the Jewish mystical tradition, and they face the challenges to Jewish environmental activism caused by the tension between the secular nature of the environmental discourse and Jewish religious commitments.

Contents:

Introduction. Judaism and the Natural World / Hava Tirosh-Samuelson xxxiii

I. Constructive Jewish Theology of Nature

A Kabbalah for the Environmental Age / Arthur Green 3

Toward a Jewish Theology of Nature / Michael Fishbane 17

II. The Human Condition: Origins, Pollution, and Death

The Ecology of Eden / Evan Eisenberg 27

How Much Is Too Much? Conventional versus Personal Definitions of Pollutions in Rabbinic Sources / Eliezer Diamond 61

Jewish Death Practices: A Commentary on the Relationship of Humans to the Natural World / David Kraemer 81

Response. Mastery and Stewardship, Wonder and Connectedness: A Typology of Relations to Nature in Jewish Text and Tradition / Eilon Schwartz 93

III. The Doctrine of Creation

Nature's Answer: The Meaning of the Book of Job in Its Intellectual Context / Stephen A. Geller 109

Creation in the Bible and in the Liturgy / Neil Gillman 133

The Doctrine of Creation and the Idea of Nature / David Novak 155

Response. Natural and Supernatural Justice / Jon D. Levenson 177

IV. Nature and Revealed Morality

Concepts of Torah and Nature in Jewish Thought / Shalom Rosenberg 189

Respect for Nature in the Jewish Tradition / Lenn E. Goodman 227

What Are the Ethical Implications of Jewish Theological Conceptions of the Natural World? / Moshe Sokol 261

Response. Construction, Discovery, and Critique in Jewish Ecological Ethics / Barry S. Kogan 283

V. Nature in Jewish Mysticism

Mirror of Nature Reflected in the Symbolism of Medieval Kabbalah / Elliot R. Wolfson 305

Nature, Exile, and Disability in R. Nahman of Bratslav's "The Seven Beggars" / Shaul Magid 333

Early Hasidism and the Natural World / Jerome (Yehudah) Gellman 369

Response. The Textualization of Nature in Jewish Mysticism / Hava Tirosh-Samuelson 389

VI. From Speculation to Action

Reverence and Responsibility: Abraham Joshua Heschel on Nature and the Self / Edward K. Kaplan 407

Can Judaism Make Environmental Policy? Sacred and Secular Language in Jewish Ecological Discourse / Tsvi Blanchard 423

Jewish Environmentalism: Past Accomplishments and Future Challenges / Mark X. Jacobs 449.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [481]-486) and index.

ISBN:

0945454333

0945454368

OCLC:

50518566