Language:
English
Pages:
288 Seiten
Edition:
Revised edition
Year of publication:
1948
Abstract:
Leo Baeck's best known work, The Essence of Judaism, was written following the publication of Protestant theologian Adolf von Harnack's Essence of Chrisianity, which compared Judaism unfavourably with Christianity. In response, Baeck described Christianity as a romantic, "feminine" tradition, based on feeling and grace. In contrast, he labelled Judaism as classical, "masculine," and oriented towards ethical action. Christianity's essentially non-ethical character could not be reformed by trying to graft on liberal principles, whereas the fundamentally moral basis of Judaism rendered it supremely compatible with modern values. While Baeck agreed with Hermann Cohen that Judaism was, in its essence, ethical monotheism, Baeck argued that it stemmed not from an abstract philosophical idea but from the individual's religious consciousness. So too, Jewish ethics had to be founded on religious certainty about a living God who dictates moral norms as part of his relationship with human beings. Thus Jewish theology reflected a tension between immanence - the individual's personal relationship with God - and transcendence: God's magisterial, law-giving aspect. But why should we assume that ethics must be derived from religious consciousness and that the only correct response to God is an ethical one? The contemporary Reform theologian Eugene Borowitz notes that Baeck never adequately answered this question, claiming instead that his purpose, as a historian, was to describe how Judaism had always understood itself. But, if so, Baeck faced another insurmountable challenge: demonstrating that a dynamic, evolving tradition had an unchanging "essence" and that this essence was identical with his own modern, rationalist conception of Judaism. At any rate, Baeck's vision of ethical monotheism had two important practical implications. First, human autonomy, the responsibility to choose between good and evil, is at the center of Judaism. This is encapsulated in the traditional idea of teshuva--moral healing by means of a penitential return to God.
URL:
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Theology/Thinkers_and_Thought/Jewish_Philosophy/Philosophies/Modern/Leo_Baeck.shtml
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