
All references in this article are to: Louis Jacobs, A Jewish Theology (New York: Behrman House, 1973)
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Louis Jacobs’ Theology
Rabbi Jacobs defined Jewish Theology as “an attempt to think through consistently the implications of the Jewish religion.”(Endnote 1).
He then stated that this “thinking is to be done in accordance to the
state of knowledge and information available at the present epoch in
human history.” According to him, this did not mean that “we set up [..]
modern thought as a rival to Judaism, or as a judge of it.” In fact, we
should recognise the limits of our knowledge at any given time.
Nevertheless, this means that Jewish theology is always something
provisional. It should be attempted by every generation. It is also
necessary that Jewish theology remains relatively consistent with that
which has been established previously.
The topics that such a theology would deal with are
concerned more with Jewish belief than with Jewish practice, and he
listed them as follows. A short summation of his position on each of
them has been appended:
- “The Jewish approach to God and how this differs from
the approaches of other religions” – God is one; God is both
transcendent and immanent; Jacobs always maintained what he called a
“liberal supernaturalism”, insisting on a personal God, and rejecting as
insufficient the God of the philosophers.
- “The relationship between God and man” – God is
omnipotent and omniscient; God is eternal; God is the creator of the
universe; God controls and guides the universe; God is wholly good; all
these refer to God in relation to humanity, as to humans in relation to
God, there are two main requirements, the love of God and the fear of
God.
- “The meaning and significance of worship” – worship
encompasses prayer, study of the Torah, observance of the precepts or
commandments, and ethical conduct.
- “Revelation” – Torah is the record of the meeting
between God and humanity, in which God reveals the Divine Presence. Its
commands provide the elements of worship, as understood in the
preceding point. Hence it is vital to understand the authority for the
observance of the commandments, especially those for which no reason can
be easily found. Louis Jacobs classifies Jewish observances into three
categories: significant, meaningless and harmful. He argued for the
absolute maintenance of the first, the possibility making optional the
keeping the second, and the possible abolition of the latter. Ethical
conduct informed by revelation allows the individual to get close to
God.
- “The doctrine of sin and repentance” – Sin results from
following the Evil inclination while repentance, understood as making
good the harm that has been done and reconciling with one’s fellows as
well as with God, leads to finding peace with one’s soul.
- “The doctrine of reward and punishment” – this doctrine
is accepted as essential but subject to several important
qualifications, namely, that we do not know exactly how God works, and
that we are connected to one another, so that our actions affect others
with whom we are in contact as well as our descendants.
- “The doctrines of the Messiah and the Hereafter” –
Jacobs questions the idea of a personal Messiah and states that in the
matter of the Messianic age, we do not know what it will be like; he
accepts the idea of the Hereafter as a necessary conclusion, but finds
it impossible to determine the shape it will take.
- “The idea of the Chosen People and the theological
implications of the State of Israel” – the first doctrine should be
accepted but not in qualitative terms, i.e. the choice is mutual
(through a covenant) and made in a universalist, not tribal sense, and
it is a choice to serve others which is not exclusive, as there is the
possibility of converting to Judaism; in an analogous way, the State of
Israel is a reality but must not be an object of worship, just as
Zionism must not be a substitute for religion, the sacredness of the
land must not be interpreted crudely, secular Hebrew culture is not
Torah, and the God of Israel is a universal God.
- “The problem of evil” – for Louis Jacobs evil does
exist, but we cannot understand why God allows it and even less the
reasons for its specific occurrences, i.e. the Holocaust.
- “The question of divine providence and miracles” –
though God works through natural causes, Louis Jacobs also admits the
possibility of miracles, even if they do not seem to occur anymore.
Endnote 1. All references are to: Louis Jacobs, A Jewish Theology (New York: Behrman House, 1973)
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