The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan / Mel Scult.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scult, Mel.

Series:

Modern Jewish experience (Bloomington, Ind.)

The modern Jewish experience

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reconstructionist Judaism.

Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem, 1881-1983.

Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (360 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Mordecai M. Kaplan, founder of the Jewish Reconstructionist movement, is the only rabbi to have been excommunicated by the Orthodox rabbinical establishment in America. Kaplan was indeed a radical, rejecting such fundamental Jewish beliefs as the concept of the chosen people and a supernatural God. Although he valued the Jewish community and was a committed Zionist, his primary concern was the spiritual fulfillment of the individual. Drawing on Kaplan's 27-volume diary, Mel Scult describes the development of Kaplan's radical theology in dialogue with the thinkers and writers who mattered to

Contents:

Excommunications: Kaplan and Spinoza

Self-reliance: Kaplan and Emerson

Nationalism and righteousness: Ahad ha-Am and Matthew Arnold

Universalism and pragmatism: Felix Adler, William James, and John Dewey

Kaplan and peoplehood: Judaism as a civilization and Zionism

Kaplan and his God: an ambivalent relationship

Kaplan's theology: beyond supernaturalism

Salvation: the goal of religion

Salvation embodied: the vehicle of mitzvot

Mordecai the pious: Kaplan and Heschel

The law: halakhah and ethics

Kaplan and the problem of evil: cutting the gordian knot

Appendix: "Thirteen wants" of Mordecai Kaplan reconstructed.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780253017116

0253017114

9780253010889

0253010888

OCLC:

861082035