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Holiness in Words: Abraham Joshua Heschel's Poetics of Piety PDF

237 Pages·1996·26.37 MB·English
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HOLINESS IN WORDS ~ Heschel at Stanford University, 1963. Courtesy of Stanford University News Service. HOLINESS IN WORDS ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL'S POETICS OF PIETY Edward K. Kaplan State University of New York Press SUNY Series in ]udaica: Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion Michael Fishbane, Robert Goldenberg, and Elliot Wolfson, editors Published by State University of New York Press, Al'Jany ©1996 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Ameri<:a No part of this book may be used or r'~produced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tap,~, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12:~46 Production by Dana Foote Marketing by Theresa Abad Swierzow:iki Library of Congress Cataloging-in-F'ublication Data Kaplan, Edward K., 1942- Holiness in words: Abraham Joshua Heschel's poetics of piety / by Edward K. Kaplan. p. em. - (SUNY series in Judaica) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-2867-2 (hardcover: alk. paper). - ISBN 0-7914-2868-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Heschel, Abraham Joshua, 1907-1972. 1. Title. II. Series. BM755.H37K365 1996 296.3'092-dc20 95-42224 eIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 How marvelous is my home. I enter as a suppliant and emerge as a witness; I enter as a stranger and emerge as next of kin. -Heschel, liOn Prayer" To those with whom I pray, members of the Newton Centre Minyan, To my wife, Janna Kaplan, with whom I share all that can be shared, To my children, jeremy joshua Kaplan, Aaron Emmanuel Kaplan, Simona Chava Kaplan, our future. ~CONTENTS List of Illustrations xi Foreword by Michael Fishbane xiii Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations xix Introduction 1 ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL IN AMERICA Theologian, Zaddik, Prophetic Voice 7 Writer and Teacher 8 "A Brand Plucked from the Fire" 10 Rescuing the Jewish Soul 11 A Zaddik for the 1950s 13 II A READING STRATEGY Empathy with Critical Awareness 19 How to Read Heschel 20 The First Steps: Close Reading 21 A Divine Perspective 24 Prophetic Call 26 Literary and Theological Insight 28 Reading toward Community 30 III THE DIVINE PERSPECTIVE Learning to Think Religiously 33 The Dynamics of Theocentric Thinking 34 A Spiritual Itinerary 36 The Endless Tension 42 IV LANGUAGE AND REALITY Toward a Poetics of Faith 45 Against Fundamentalisms 46 The Limits of Language 47 viii CONTENTS Windows to the Spirit 50 The Perspective of the Faithless 53 The Structure of Biblical Metaphor 55 Three Dimensions of Human Fullness 58 V MYSTICISM AND DESPAIR The Threshold of Revelation 61 Ollt of the Darkness 61 Recasting Mental Habits 63 Mystical Illumination 65 The Life of Piety 70 Resistance to Faith 72 VI SACRED VERSUS SYMBOLIC RELIGION Social Science or God's Will? 75 Spirit versus Symbol 77 Law and Inwardness 79 Buber's Atheistic Theology? 82 Poetics and Observance 84 Becoming God's Symbol 87 VII PROPHETIC RADICALISM Sacred Humanism and Social Action 99 Prophecy in the New World 100 Reverence for the Divine Image 103 Prophetic Ethics versus Expediency 105 Prayer and Political Courage 108 God as Touchstone 112 VIII CONFRONTING THE HOLOCAUST God in Exile 115 "The Mountain of History" 118 Writing and Unspeakable Evil 123 No Post-Holocaust Theology 129 IX METAPHOR AND MIRACLE Modern Judaism and the Holy Spirit 133 The Historicity of Divine Inspiration 134

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A strategy for reading Heschel's major works, as well as a new route to understanding religious writing in general: a lucid study of modern religious and ethical thought using literary criticism."A brilliant, and at the same time, moving, and deeply personal interpretation of the works of one of the
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