Originally published in The Jewish Quarterly Review, 67:2/3 (1976/7), pp. 168-71. CHARTING THE MAP OF JEWISH THEOLOGY Jacobs, Louis, A Jewish Theology. New York: Behrman House Inc., 1973. Pp. 342 $12.50. This is a stimulating work, written by an ... Continue Reading ➨
Reviews of Louis Jacobs’s books
This section contains a selection of book reviews written by a broad range of authored, including academics and rabbis, offering critical comments on the works of Rabbi Louis Jacobs.
Review of ‘Tree of Life’ by David Novak
Originally published in the Journal of Religion, 66:2 (1986), pp. 210-12. Jacobs, Louis. A Tree of Life: Diversity, Flexibility, and Creativity in Jewish Law. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. 310 pp. $24.95 (cloth). Louis Jacobs is ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Tree of Life’ by Catherine Hezser
Originally published in the Journal of Law and Religion, 17:1/2 (2002), pp. 133-5. A Tree of Life. Diversity, Flexibility, and Creativity in Jewish Law. By Louis Jacobs. London: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization 2000. Pp. xxxii, 311. ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Theology in the Responsa’ by Solomon B. Freehof
Originally published in European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe, 10:1 (Winter 1975/6), pp. 49-50. Theology in the Responsa. Louis Jacobs. The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and Boston, 1975. ... Continue Reading ➨
‘New Articles of Faith’ – A Review of ‘Principles of the Jewish Faith’ by Norman Bentwich
Originally published in The Times Literary Supplement 3279 (1964), p. 1185. NEW ARTICLES OF FAITH Louis Jacobs: Principles of the Jewish Faith. An Analytical Study. 473 pp. Vallentine. Mitchell. £3 3s. Dr. Louis Jacobs has during the past ... Continue Reading ➨
‘Orthodox, with reservations’ – A Review of ‘A Jewish Theology’ by Geza Vermes
Originally published in The Times Literary Supplement 3789 (1974), p. 1169. LOUS JACOBS: A Jewish Theology. 342pp. Darton, Longman and Todd. £4.75. Jews traditionally expound their beliefs in the form of interpretation. They furnish the Bible ... Continue Reading ➨
‘Panentheist’ – A Review of ‘Seeker of Unity’ by Harold Henry Rowley
Originally published in The Times Literary Supplement 3388 (1967), p. 94. Louis Jacobs: Seeker of Unity. 168pp. Vallentine, Mitchell. 25s. Rabbi Louis Jacobs combines erudition with an industrious pen, and in a rapidly growing stream of ... Continue Reading ➨
A Review of ‘Holy Living’ by Dean Shapiro
Originally published in The Jewish Book Review, 26th September 1990. Holy living: Saints and Saintliness in Judaism by Louis Jacobs (hardcover, 176 pages, $20) sounds like a strange title for a Jewish book, considering the fact that we don’t ... Continue Reading ➨
A Review of ‘The Talmudic Argument’ by Raphael Loewe
Originally published in the Society for Old Testament Study Booklist, 1985. Jacobs L.: The Talmudic Argument: A Study in Talmudic Reasoning and Methodology. 1984. Pp. xvi, 220. (Cambridge University Press. Price: £25.00. ISBN 0 521 26370 0) The ... Continue Reading ➨
A Review of ‘Religion and the Individual’ by Peter Baelz
Religion and the Individual: A Jewish Perspective, Louis Jacobs (Cambridge University Press 1992) xii +163pp, £27.95 hbk One of the series of Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions, this monograph examines the significance of the individual in ... Continue Reading ➨
Singular Virtues – A Review of ‘Religion and the Individual’ by Tony Bayfield
Originally published in Church Times, 13th March 1992. LOUIS JACOBS is one of our greatest Jewish scholars, and his prolific output is all the more remarkable in view of a lifetime spent as a congregational rabbi. Rabbi Jacobs’s latest book is ... Continue Reading ➨
The Total Halachist – A Review of ‘Ask the Rabbi’ and ‘Beyond Reasonable Doubt’ by Michael Milston
Originally published in Judaism Today, Winter 1999-2000. Ask the Rabbi reveals the true Louis Jacobs, the total Halachist with total faith in God and total intellectual acceptance of the Torah as a prerequisite to understanding all truth. To quote ... Continue Reading ➨
Judaism Knows Saints – A Review of ‘Holy Living’ by Kenneth L. Cohen
Originally published in The Jewish Spectator, Winter 1990. A member of my congregation took issue with me for using the term saints in reference to Jewish righteous personalities. In the opinion of my critic, the term was Christian and ought not ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Norman Solomon of ‘The Talmudic Argument’
Originally published in Selly Oak Colleges Journal, 1988. The Talmudic Argument: a study in Talmudic reasoning and methodology, by Louis Jacobs. Cambridge University Press. 1964, pp. xvi, 220, £25. The most influential religious work amongst ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Marc B. Shapiro of ‘The Jewish Religion: A Companion’
Originally published in Judaism Today 4 (Spring 1996), pp. 42-3. THE JEWISH RELIGION: A COMPANION Louis Jacobs Oxford University Press 1995, pp 641 , £25.00 Marc B. Shapiro There are a number of single-volume encyclopedias of Judaism of varying ... Continue Reading ➨
A Review of ‘A Jewish Theology’
Originally published in Common Ground, Spring 1974. A JEWISH THEOLOGY, by Louis JACOBS (Darton, Longman and Todd, £4.75) The difference between “a” and “the” as applied to Jewish, or for that matter any other kind of theology, is clearly a ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘The Jewish Religion: A Companion’ by Erich Segal
Originally published in December 1997. Louis Jacobs was a universally respected orthodox rabbi until 1959, when the publication of his little book We Have Reason to Believe brought him a notoriety he surely never sought. Outraged fundamentalist ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Neil Gillman on ‘God, Torah, and Israel’
Originally published in Shofar 10:1 (Fall 1991), pp. 153-4. God, Torah, Israel: Traditionalism Without Fundamentalism, by Louis Jacobs. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1990. 92 pp. $18.00. This slim volume incorporates the text of three ... Continue Reading ➨
Devotion and Fervour – A Review of ‘Hasidic Prayer’ by Harry Rabinowicz
Hasidic Prayer. By Louis Jacobs. Routledge. £3. In the mid-eighteenth century Eastern Europe gave birth to Hasidism, the greatest revival movement in Jewish history. Hasidic philosophy has added a new dimension to daily life and some three ... Continue Reading ➨
John D. Rayner on ‘A Jewish Theology’
Originally published in Pointer: Journal of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues, 9:3 (Summer 1974). A Jewish Theology Louis Jacobs. Darton, Longman & Todd, London, 1973. 332 pp. £7.75. A modern Maimonides! To compare a ... Continue Reading ➨