Tag: pluralistic judaism
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There’s No One Right Way To Practice Judaism
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Does the Great Rabbi Akiva Have Feet of Clay? The Oven of Akhnai, Part II
The first half of the Talmud’s Oven of Akhnai narrative ends with the death of R. Gamliel, implicitly as punishment for his humiliation of his colleague, R. Eliezer. The deliberate humiliation of another Jew is a grave crime under Jewish law, and when Gamliel ignored God’s warning he was appropriately punished. The conclusion of this Read more
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Part 2 of My Conversation on the “Design and Religion” Podcast
I earlier participated in a three-way conversation with Dr. Philip Jones, a retired Presbyterian pastor, and Van Sedita, a Christian layperson (previously posted), regarding the primary themes of my book. There, it became apparent that many of theological tensions that I have found in Judaism were also present in Presbyterianism, including whether it is possible Read more
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Judaism is Open-Minded and Pluralistic
There is a famous Talmudic story that I believe does not get enough attention, as it exemplifies Judaism’s liberal (old, classic sense) character. It recounts (b. Eruv. 13b) that there was a three-year halakhic (legal) dispute between the academies of Hillel and Shammai, two great sages who emerged in the immediate aftermath of the Second Read more
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New Podcast Discussion: Innovation and Authority
How can religion innovate without surrendering its authority and continuity Read more
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Come Now, Let Us Reason Together: the Movie
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, you should really dig this video, which I believe provides a compelling one-minute summary of my book. Check it out! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rtxV9D7AlB8qNKSKH8tY8-OlQUH-UK8F/view Read more
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Interview on “Third Opinion” Podcast
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mike Deeson, an Emmy-award winning investigative journalist, on the above podcast. It was an open-ended discussion that gave me ample opportunity to describe the main themes of of my book. I appear around the 34th minute of this 56 minute episode. I invite you to listen Read more
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How Haredi Judaism Became Illiberal
In Come Now, Let Us Reason Together I present an extended argument that rabbinic Judaism, the iteration that emerged following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and reigned until the closing of the (Babylonian) Talmud at the start of the 7th century, was liberal in the classical sense. That is, open-minded, tolerant, Read more