Jewish Religious

Philosophy
A Continuation

Schedule
Tuesdays 12:15 PM
2 November Abraham Heschel (1907 1972)
9 November Baruch Spinoza (1632 1677)
23 November Moses Mendelsshon (1729 1786)

Abraham Heschel
The Prophets

Abraham Heschel
(1907 - 1972)
Philosopher, Theologian

Abraham Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-born American
theologian, educator, and philosopher who sought to build a
modern philosophy of religion on the basis of ancient Jewish
tradition.
Born Warsaw, Poland
1907
PhD Philosophy University of Berlin
1933
Professor University of Frankfurt
1937
Institute of Judaistic Studies Warsaw
1938
Institute for Jewish Learning London
1939
Hebrew Union College Cincinnati
1940
Jewish Theological Seminary New York
1945
Died New York
1972

Major Writings

Man Is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion

The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man
Man's Quest for God: Studies in Prayer and Symbolism
God in Search of Man
The Prophets
Who Is Man?
The Insecurity of Freedom: Essays on Human Existence

1951
1951
1954
1955
1962
1965
1966

In addition to his scholarly and philosophical writings, Heschel

authored several works on Jewish life in Eastern Europe.

A God of Pathos
According to Heschel, the individual learns about God not by
reason and intellect, but through experience, divine revelation, and
sacred deeds, all of which enable the individual to form a
relationship -a "leap of action" rather than of faith - with God.
Heschels understanding of God is based on a "theology of
pathos," in which God is a god of pathos
revealed in a personal and intimate relation to the world ...
He [God] is also moved and affected by what happens in the world
and reacts accordingly.

God is affected by the world.

A God of Pathos
The presence of God speaks through the manifestations of
history.
Pathos is not an attribute of God but a situation in history
... transitory.
Pathos to suffer as a passive victim.
Experience evoking pity or compassion.
To Heschel demonstrating emotion.

An Emotional God ?
From earliest times, the philosopher felt that God could not be
affected by emotion.
Philo, (1st cent Jewish philosopher), as an example, thought that
God could not be affected by anything outside of himself God
had no emotions.
But the Hebrew scriptures are filled with the emotions of God
jealousy wrath anger love compassion
Is Gods emotion in scripture simply a human invention an
anthropomorphism?
Does emotion imply change (before I was angry now Im
not). And if God is emotional what does this say about his
impassibility immutability?
Pathos denotes a change in the inner life of a being.

The Question of Emotion

In the scripture God cares.
Is Gods caring rational or emotional?

Reason capacity for objectivity in impersonal terms.

Emotion is pure receptivity, an impression involving neither
cognition nor representation of the object
Is there reason in the emotional life?

The Prophets
(1962)
What drove me to study the prophets? In the academic environment in
which I spent my student years philosophy had become an isolated, selfsubsisting, self-indulgent entity encouraging suspicion instead of love
of wisdom.

Why the Prophets ?

Instead of dealing with the timeless issues of being and
becoming, of matter and form, of great orations and great
mansions of the mind the prophet takes us to the slums. He
speaks endlessly about widows and orphans the corruptions of
governments and judges to the affairs of the market place.
The things that horrified the prophets over 2700 years ago are
now daily occurrences around the corner and all over the
world.

The prophets speak to today.

The Prophets
Their breathless impatience with injustice may strike us as
hysteria. We ourselves witness continually acts of injustice,
manifestations of hypocrisy, falsehood, outrage, misery, but we
rarely grow indignant or overly excited.
To the prophets even a minor injustice assumes cosmic
proportions.
The prophet has a sensitivity to the presence of God in the
world not an impersonal knowledge. The prophet has
insight into God not a union with God.
The prophet is not a mystic.

How does the prophet speak for God ?

Which God ?
How can God who we associate with absolute majesty
unmitigated grandeur with omnipotence and perfection
be affected by his creatures ?
God as First Cause Unmoved Mover The Good
Source of Being.
If God is a Being of absolute self-sufficiency, than the entire
world outside of Him can in no way be relevant to Him.
Did God lack something before creation ?
To Deists of modern times Gods transcendence implies
His complete detachment and apartness from the world.

Heschels Response
to the philosophical argument

Heschels Response
Ontology the study of being.
In Greek philosophy being itself is the ultimate.
In Jewish and Christian thought the source of being is the
ultimate.
Biblical ontology does not separate being from doing. What is, acts.
The God of Israel is a God who acts, a God of mighty deeds. The
Bible does not say how he is, but how he acts.
It speaks of His acts of pathos and of his acts in history; it is not as
true being that God is conceived, but as semper agens [always
effective].
Here the basic category is action rather than immobility. Movement,
creation of nature, acts within history rather than absolute
transcendence and detachment from the events of history, are the
attributes of the Supreme Being.

Heschels Argument
based on
Hebrew Scriptures

Heschels Response
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
(Gen 1:1)
The essential message here is not that the world had a cause but that
the world is not the ultimate.
Before there was a world being as we know it there was
God.
Therefore, God is not a being as we understand being but before
being the ultimate cause of being One who transcends being.
This is not philosophy it transcends philosophy.

Heschels Response
We are not concerned with what created the universe but
WHO created the universe. Then we can ask why and move on
from there.
Our earthly life and being is finite in the end God will
transcend his creation. To share in his life means responding to him
in this life.
We cannot fail to be concerned about the issue.

Heschels Argument
If God is a Being of absolute self-sufficiency, than the entire world
outside of Him can in no way be relevant to Him.
But Biblical religion begins with God addressing mankind
with his entering into covenant with his creatures. God is in need
of man.
A Supreme Being, apathetic and indifferent to man, may
denote an idea, but not the living God of Israel.
A God of passionate concern not contemplative survey.

The God of the Prophets

An idea or a theory of God can easily become a substitute for God,
impressive to the mind when God as a living reality is absent from the
soul.
The prophets had no theory of God what they had was an
understanding.
God reacts to the world intimately and subjectively.
The Prophets speak of a God not of infinite wisdom infinite power
but of infinite concern.

The God of the Prophets

Gods pathos adds a new dimension to humankinds existence
whatever man does affects not only his own life but also
Gods existence insofar as it is directed toward mankind.
The biblical ideal is not to present God as an abstraction an
idea but the fullness of the divine Being; the certainty that
the Creator is also the Redeemer, that the Lord is the Lord of
history.

The God of the Prophets

If God is truly Wholly Other a strange weird uncanny
Being shrouded in darkness then perhaps religion has to be
cultic and unique in order to be authentic but
A response of mankind to the unknown.

If God is involved is near and concerned than perhaps

religion is meant to be a response to Gods concerns.
Directed by God.

If the prophets felt that God were only Wholly Other than they
would not have openly attacked the sacred ... which the people
claimed to revere.
For the prophets, justice was the supreme manifestation of God.
Justice will decide our success in accomplishing His grand design.

Searching For God

A Babylonian prayer
I myself was thinking only of prayer and supplications: supplication
was my concern, sacrifice my rule; the day of worship of the gods was
my delight, the day of my goddesses procession was my profit and my
wealth
Who has learnt to understand the will of the gods in heaven, the gods
plan, full of wisdom, who can comprehend it? When have stupid
mortals ever understood the ways of the gods?
But maybe stupid mortals can understand what God wants
from his creatures !

Heschels Argument
based on
Hebrew Scriptures
Hosea

The Emotional God

From Hosea:
The people have sinned against their God idolatry and God is angry.
Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. I saw your ancestors.
But they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to a thing of
shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved. (Hosea 7:10)
Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal; there I came to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of
my house. I will love them no more (Hosea 9:15)
I will pour out my wrath like water. (Hosea 5:10)

The Emotional God

From Hosea:
But God still loves his people from long ago
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept
sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of
human kindness, with bands of love.
I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to
them and fed them.
They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me. (Hosea 11:1-5)

The Emotional God

From Hosea:
they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has
withdrawn from them. (Hosea 5:6)
I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and
seek my face, and in their distress they seek me (Hosea 5:15)
How can I give you up, O E'phraim! How can I hand you over, O
Israel!
My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I
will not execute my fierce anger, I will not again destroy E'phraim; for
I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come
to destroy. (Hosea 11:8-9)
In this moment of anger, God does not intend to execute his wrath
upon the people but intends that his wrath should be annulled by the
repentance and love of his people.

The God Of The Prophets Cares

To the prophets, sin is not an ultimate, irreducible or independent
condition, but rather a disturbance in the relationship between God and
man a condition that can be surmounted by mans return and Gods
forgiveness.
The disparity between God and the world is overcome in God, not man.
A purely ethical monotheism in which God, the guardian of the moral
order, keeps the world subject to the law, would restrict the scope of
God

The Issue
The God of the philosophers
the God who is almighty omniscient omnipresent impassible
and immutable
seems to be in contradiction to the emotional God of the Prophets.
Does God feel angst for his people ?
Yet again we face the dichotomy of the transcendent and the immanent
in God
Wholly Other intimately personal.
Are the views of the religious philosophers (theologians) and the
views of the prophets concerning Gods relationship with his people
compatible ??

Heschels Argument
based on
Hebrew Scriptures
Isaiah

Gods Response
God speaks.
I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled
against me.
The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its masters crib; but
Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
Ah, sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, offspring who do
evil, children who deal corruptly, who have forsaken the Lord,
who have despised the Holy One of Israel, who are utterly
estranged!
Why do you seek further beatings? (Isaiah 1:2-5)
The people of God have been chastised before but they dont
act as if they understand the lesson.

No Ritual Without Justice

Gods anger grows
Hear the word of the Lord
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices
I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed
beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; incense is an
abomination to me.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they
have become burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.
(Isaiah 1:10-14)
God no longer wants the sacrifices festivals and rituals that he
previously demanded Why ??

No Ritual Without Justice

Religious ritual symbolism can become an end in itself when
God as a living reality is absent from the soul.
No sacrifice no burnt offerings but what about the Law?
From Genesis
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt
offerings on the altar.
And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor (Gen 8:20-21)
Why the difference Noahs heart was pure
Intent of the heart is critical

Its Your Choice

Gods threat
When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are
full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your
doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek
justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the
widow. (Isaiah 1:15-16)
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for
the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 1:19)
The choice is yours.

Chastisement
How the faithful city has become a whore!
She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her - but now
murderers!
Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the orphan, and the widows cause does not come
before them. (Isaiah 1:21)
Jerusalem has fallen away.
Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of
Israel:
Ah, I will pour out my wrath I will turn my hand against you
Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by
righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together
(Isaiah 1:24-25)
Gods wrath is coming but there is still a chance

Gods Wrath
Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass
sinks down in the flame, so their root will become rotten, and their
blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the
Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he
stretched out his hand against them and struck them; the mountains
quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched
out still. (Isaiah 5:24-25)
Divine justice ?

To What End?
The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless:
Who among us can live with the devouring fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting flames? (Isaiah 33:14)
The people know that the punishment is justified that it is severe
and that it cannot be endured but even with this realization
mankind does not repent does not return to the Lord.
God wants to be as one with his people but his people dont seem to
care.
Can mankind properly respond ??

Gods Response
In this piece (Isaiah 1) God
Condemns ritualistic practices
Says he will not hear his people when they call upon him
Calls for repentance
Promises a righteous kingdom
Threatens destruction on the people who have forgotten him.

God is emotional with sorrow in his anger. It is an anger based

in love.

Micah
Micah like Amos, Hosea and Isaiah before him is tormented by
what will happen to his people but knows that Gods anger is
justified.
Among the great insights Micah has bequeathed to us is how to
accept and to bear the anger of God. The strength of acceptance
comes from the awareness that we have sinned against Him and from
the certainty that anger does not mean Gods abandonment of man
forever.
His anger passes, His faithfulness goes on forever. There is
compassion in His anger; when we fall, we rise.

Rational Anger
We are moved by a soft religiosity and would like to think
that God is lovely, tender, and familiar, as if faith were a
source of comfort, but not readiness for martyrdom.
Those of us to whom the crimes of the world are mere
incidents, and the agony of the poor is one of the many facts of
life, may be inclined to describe the God of the prophets as
stern, arbitrary, inscrutable, even unaccountable.
But the thought of God and indifference to other peoples
suffering are mutually exclusive.
Since justice is His nature, love, which would disregard the
evil deeds of man, would contradict His nature.

The Evil of Indifference

There is an evil which most of us condone and are even
guilty of: indifference to evil. We remain neutral, impartial,
and not easily moved by the wrongs done unto other people.
Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself; it is
more universal, more contagious, more dangerous.
When the legitimate rights of the poor are violated this is
a form of cruelty.

END

Heschels Argument
based on
Hebrew Scriptures
Amos

The Prophet Amos

When the prophet Amos appeared in the Kingdom of Israel
(8th cent BCE) there was pride splendor in the land
elegance in the cities and might in the palaces.
The rich had summer and winter homes. They planted
vineyards and had sumptuous feasts.
But at the same time there was no justice in the land.
The poor were afflicted exploited and even sold into
slavery.

A People Without Compassion

I will not revoke the punishment;
because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair
of sandals
they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is
profaned;
they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in
pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines
they imposed. (Amos 2:6-8)
The people had no loyalty to God and no pity for their fellow
man.

Ritual Sacrifice
Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grainofferings, I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not
look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the
melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an
ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:22-24)
Things had gotten so bad in the Kingdom of Israel during this time
of prosperity that God makes it clear that he doesnt even want
the sacrifices that His own law demands (in the Torah).
Prayers and supplications are good and acceptable only if the
heart is pure and the intention is righteous.

Amos Message
There is a living God who cares passionately (pathos). Justice
is more than an idea. The covenant is more than a contract a
legal document of obligations it is a guarantee of mutual
concern.
God is pained when he sees the people he loves abuse one
another.
God simply wants justice

Amos Message
God threatens punishment but Heschel believes that it is only a
threat why ??
The long tale of infliction sets forth clearly the futility of
chastisement.
The soul seems incapable of remorse. However, if hunger, drought,
blight, locust, pestilence, slaying of sons, and destruction of cities
have had no effect, what should the next action be?
Total destruction annihilation?
No Another more bitter punishment would contradict the essence
and love of God.