The Essential Agus

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Steven T. Katz. The Essential Agus

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THE ESSENTIAL AGUS

CONTENTS

PREFACE. Steven T. Katz

SELECTORS

1. JACOB B. AGUS—AN INTRODUCTORY OVERVIEW. Steven T. Katz. LIFE

THOUGHT

CONCLUSION

NOTES

SELECTIONS. Steven T. Katz

2. THE IDEAL PERSONALITY

THE MODESTY OF THE HILLELITES

THE DIALECTIC OF TORAH-STUDY

THE MYSTICAL POWER OF TORAH-LEARNING

VICARIOUS ATONEMENT

THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

MIRACLES AND MARTYRDOM

CHARITY AND COMPASSION FOR ALL

NOTES

3. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

BEYOND IDEOLOGIES

A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

NATURAL LAW AND THE LIFE OF THE FAMILY

PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL ETHICS

THE VIRTUE OF WISDOM

THE ETHICS OF RACE AND GROUP RELATIONS

TENSIONS BETWEEN NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL VALUES

PEACE AND THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER

WAR IN THE NUCLEAR AGE

MONOSATANISM, SUBVERSION, AND INTERVENTION

RELIGIONS IN A PLURALISTIC, SECULAR SOCIETY

COMPARISON OF JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS

NOTES

4. NEO-MAIMONISM

TENSION AT THE HEART OF REALITY

“SOVEREIGNTY OF REASON”

REJECTION OF ETHNIC MYSTICISM

THE QUEST OF SELF-TRANSCENDENCE

THE MEANING OF GOD

MEANING OF FAITH

REVELATION

NOTES

PART ONE. JACOB B. AGUS AS A STUDENT. OF MODERN JEWISH PHILOSOPHY

SELECTIONS AND. PREFATORY REMARKS. David Novak

5. THE COMMON CORE OF MODERN JEWISH PHILOSOPHY

NOTES

6. THE NEARNESS OF GOD

CONFLICT AND THE INWARD PATH

UNITY

FEAR AND TREMBLING

FREEDOM

PRINCIPLE OF ALTERNATION

CONTENT OF THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE

DYNAMISM

UNIO MYSTICA

INTERPRETATION

HOLINESS

NOTES

7. RAV KUK, AN APPRECIATION

THE MYSTIC

NOTE

PART TWO. JACOB B. AGUS AS A STUDENT OF MEDIEVAL JEWISH. PHILOSOPHY AND MYSTICISM

SELECTIONS AND PREFATORY REMARKS. David R. Blumenthal

8. THE RISE OF JEWISH RATIONALISM

NOTES

9. THE QABBALAH

NOTES

PART THREE. JACOB B. AGUS AND JEWISH-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE: A VIEW FROM THE CHRISTIAN SIDE

SELECTIONS AND PREFATORY REMARKS. Eugene J. Fisher

10. JUDAISM AND THE NEW TESTAMENT

NOTES

11. PERSPECTIVES FOR THE STUDY OF THE BOOK OF ACTS

NOTES

12. A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIAN-JEWISH DISPUTATION

BETWEEN TRADITIONALISTS AND PHILOSOPHERS

NATIONALISTIC DISSENT

EXISTENTIALIST DISSENT

A TWENTIETH-CENTURY DISPUTATION

NOTES

PART FOUR. JACOB AGUS’ IDEOLOGY OF AMERICAN JUDAISM: AMERICAN JEWS OR JEWISH AMERICANS?

SELECTIONS AND. PREFATORY REMARKS. Milton R. Konvitz

13. WHO WE ARE

JEWISH IMAGE IN PAST AND PRESENT

THE EMERGENCE OF ANTI-ZIONISM

DILEMMA OF AMERICAN JEWISH LEADERSHIP

14. ASSIMILATION, INTEGRATION, SEGREGATION: THE ROAD TO THE FUTURE

NOTES

15. JEWISH SELF-IMAGE IN THE POSTWAR WORLD. AMBIVALENCE OF LIBERALISM

TOYNBEE AND HIS CHALLENGE

JEWISH NATIONALISTS AND THE LIBERALS

A CONCEPT OF JEWISH IDENTITY

APPENDIX: LETTER FROM ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE TO JACOB B. AGUS

NOTES

PART FIVE. THE CONCEPT OF GOD IN JACOB AGUS’ THEOLOGY

SELECTION AND PREFATORY REMARKS. William E. Kaufman

16. THE IDEA OF GOD

PART SIX. JACOB B. AGUS ON THE MEANING OF JEWISH HISTORY AND EXPERIENCE

SELECTIONS AND PREFATORY REMARKS. Neil Gillman

17. EPILOGUE TO THE EVOLUTION OF JEWISH THOUGHT

(1) THE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD VERSUS HIS IMMANENCE

(2) HUMAN DIGNITY VERSUS HUMAN SINFULNESS

(3) IS THE CONTENT OF RELIGION SOME THINGS TO BE DONE OR SOMETHING TO BECOME?

(4) IS MAN COMPLETELY FREE TO WORK OUT HIS OWN SALVATION, OR IS HIS FUTURE PREDETERMINED?

(5) IS THE DIVINE WILL INHERENT IN THE NORMAL AND NATURAL PROCESSES OF HISTORY, OR IS IT “TRANSHISTORICAL,” BREAKING INTO THE FLUX OF HISTORICAL EVENTS WITH PREDETERMINED RESULTS?

(6) IS FAITH AN EXTENSION AND ANTICIPATION OF THE LIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE AND INTELLIGENCE, OR IS IT THE ACCEPTANCE OF TRADITIONAL DOGMAS OUTSIDE THE DICTATES OF REASON AND ETHICS?

(7) IS JUDAISM A UNIVERSAL RELIGION, EMPLOYING A NATION AS ITS HISTORICAL VEHICLE, OR IS IT THE “WAY OF LIFE” OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, THE EXPRESSION OF THE CULTURE AND SANCTA OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE?

(8) IN VIEW OF THE MANIFOLD TENSIONS AND POLARITIES IN JEWISH THOUGHT CAN WE SPEAK OF THE “MAINSTREAM” OF JUDAISM?

NOTES

18. THE CONCEPT OF ISRAEL

NOTES

PART SEVEN. JACOB B. AGUS AND THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT

SELECTIONS AND PREFATORY REMARKS. Mordecai Waxman

19. REEVALUATION OF THE “RESPONSUM ON THE SABBATH”

20. BIRTH CONTROL: A DISSENT

NOTE

21. LAW IN CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM. NEED FOR A READJUSTMENT OF JEWISH LAW

WHY THE LAW COMMITTEE IS INSUFFICIENT

THE WAY OF TAKKANOT

PROPOSAL FOR A “JEWISH ACADEMY”

22. A THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION FOR THE HALACHAH

GOD

REVELATION

HALACHAH

TAKKANOT

K’LAL YISROEL

ECUMENISM

SUMMATION

NOTES

PART EIGHT. JEWISH LAW AS STANDARDS

SELECTION AND PREFATORY REMARKS. Elliot N. Dorff

23. THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT. EMERGENCE OF THE MOVEMENT

TRENDS WITHIN THE MOVEMENT

REPUDIATION OF THE LITERALISTIC CONCEPTION OF REVELATION

THE “POSITIVE-HISTORICAL” VIEWPOINT

THE NATIONALISTIC MOTIF

THE MOTIF OF ANTI-SECTARIANISM

THE “HIGH SYNAGOGUE” MOTIF

THE FACTOR OF NEO-MYSTICISM

THE CONTRIBUTION OF RATIONALISM

THE EMERGENCE OF EXISTENTIALISM

THE “RECONSTRUCTIONIST” MOVEMENT

ISSUES AND PRACTICE IN THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT

NOTES

PART NINE. JACOB B. AGUS. AS PULPIT RABBI

SELECTIONS AND PREFATORY REMARKS. Mark Loeb

24. RELIGION AND NATIONALISM

NOTES

25. THE COVENANT CONCEPT— PARTICULARISTIC, PLURALISTIC, OR FUTURISTIC?

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WORKS. OF JACOB B. AGUS. BOOKS

ARTICLES

BROCHURES

BOOK REVIEWS

LETTERS AND REPLIES TO LETTERS

SYMPOSIA

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In this volume, we propose to show that Judaism in nearly every age resembled an Oriental tapestry in the plenitude of colors and shades it embraced and unified. The comparative unity of law and custom concealed the great diversity of thought and sentiment. Within the authentic field of Jewish consciousness we recognize an unending struggle between the self-exaltation of romantic nationalism and the self-dedication of prophetism; between the austere appeal of ruthless rationality and the beguiling seduction of self-flattering sentiments; between the gentle charm of moralistic and pietistic devotions and the popular preference for routinized rites and doubt-proof dogmas. The mighty tensions within the soul of contemporary Western man were reflected faithfully and clearly in the currents and cross-currents of the historic stream of Judaism. (Evolution, 6)

In contradistinction to older, monolithic renderings of the Jewish past, Agus here expresses the most important insight generated by the best modern Jewish scholarship, namely, that Judaism is a “rich spectrum of colors ranging from the twilight moods of mysticism to the stark clarity of rationalism, from the lofty heights of universal idealism to the dark depths of collective ‘sacred egoism’” (400).

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