Thinking about good and evil : Jewish views from antiquity to modernity / Rabbi Wayne Allen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allen, Wayne R., author.

Series:

JPS Essential Judaism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Yetzer hara (Judaism).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource)

Place of Publication:

Lincoln, Nebraska : University of Nebraska Press, [2021]

Summary:

The most comprehensive book on the topic, Thinking about Good and Evil traces salient Jewish ideas about why innocent people seem to suffer, why evil individuals seem to prosper, and God's role in matters of (in)justice, from antiquity to modernity.

Contents:

Mordecai Kaplan

Hannah Arendt

Eugene Borowitz

Neil Gillman

Harold Kushner

Martha Nussbaum

Judith Plaskow

Summary

8. The Special Problem of the Shoah

Holocaust, Shoah, Ḥurban?

Exceptionality

Theological Responses to Exceptionality

Theological Traditionalists

Kalonymus Kalman Shapira

Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich

Ḥayyim Yisrael Tsimerman

Eliezer Berkovits

Evaluation of the Theological Traditionalists

Radical Revisionists

Richard Rubenstein

Alexander Donat

Arthur Cohen

Hans Jonas

Evaluation of the Radical Revisionists

Deflectors

Rabbi Isaac Luria

5. Hasidic Masters on Evil and Suffering

What Is Perceived as Evil Is in Fact Good

There Is Good in Evil

Evil Does Not Exist

Evil Induces Holiness

Good Is Appreciated Only in Contrast with Evil

Evil Allows for the Attainment of Good

Evildoers Persist as Good Examples

On Personal Suffering

The Suffering of the Collective

6. Early Modern Thinkers on Good and Evil

Barukh Spinoza

Moses Ḥayyim Luzzatto

Moses Mendelssohn

7. Modern Thinkers on Good and Evil

Hermann Cohen

Samuel Alexander

Martin Buber

Interpret the Suffering of the Righteous as Vicarious Atonement

Recognize Evil as a Universal and Regular Phenomenon

Apply the Concept of "God's Wrath" to Explain Suffering

Be Resigned to the Inevitability of Injustice

The Evil Inclination

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Philo

3. Good and Evil in Medieval Philosophy

Sa'adiah

Baḥya

Abraham ibn Daud

Maimonides

Gersonides

Crescas

Albo

Yosef Ya'avetz

4. Kabbalah and the Problem of Evil

Sefer Yetzirah

Rabbi Yitzḥak ben Ya'akov ha-Kohen, Sagi Nahor (the Blind)

Sefer ha-Bahir

Zohar

The Book of Ecclesiastes

The Book of Daniel

The Apocrypha

The Book of Enoch

2. Rabbinic Approaches to Good and Evil

Thirteen Rabbinic Approaches to Theodicy

Refine Definitions

Resort to the Inexplicability Factor

Propose the "Chastisements of Love"

Assume Astral Influence

Compensate Injustice in the Afterlife

Ascribe Evils to the Trials of the Righteous

Assert the Usefulness of the Continued Existence of the Wicked

See Early Death as a Benefit to the Righteous

Claim That Prior Assumptions Are No Longer in Force

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

In This Book

Understanding Theodicy

Judaism's Challenges in Addressing Theodicy

"That Sore That Will Never Heal"

1. Good and Evil in the Bible and Apocrypha

Genesis: The Creation Epic

Genesis: The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Genesis: Cain and Abel

Genesis: Abraham's Intercession on Behalf of Sodom and the Binding of Isaac

Deuteronomy: The Choice of Good or Evil

The Prophets

The Book of Psalms

The Book of Proverbs

The Book of Job

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780827618664

0827618662

9780827614710

0827614713

OCLC:

1242465312