Reasoning After Revelation: Dialogues In Postmodern Jewish Philosophy

176 Pages·1998·13.67 MB·English

by  Steven Kepnes

Praise for Reasoning After Revelation
This is the most radical attempt yet made to square scriptural
faith with postmodernism. Whether they agree or disagree,
Christians (and Ilvluslims, tc-90) have much tc-9 learn from it.
George LincSbeck,
Pitkin Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology, Yale University
This hook presents a thoughthl and provocative cmversation that goes
beyond academic discourse in its thinking of the Jewish tradition and its
relation to modernity. The book's seatest strength is its dialogicai form.
Xts interlocutors chailenge each other continually to clarify their terms
and in so doing exemylih what they see as the textual and dialogical
task af reasoning after revelation.
Leora Batnitzky,
Princeton University
What a privilege you will find it to be warmly welcomed into the
ongoing and lively conversation that is postmodern Jewish philosophy, X t
is rare ta find a book of philosophy that not only is a cogent analysis of
what the text says, but af precisely how the discursive method works.
Entering this book is like entering the room with some of the very best
scholars in the field, sitting down, being handed a text, and bring asked
what you think. X t is transfarmative schalarship.
Laurie Zoloth-Dorfman,
San Francisco State University
The new wave in contemporary Jewish philosophy is excitingly and
concisely set forth in these pages. iWany of the chief proponents of
the postmodern thinking have tl~eirb rilliant say here, including why they
disagree with one another, The result is a pivotal book in the restless
evolution of modern Jewish thought.
Eugene B, Borowitz,
Sigmund L, Fatk Distinguished Professor of Education and
Jewish )t(e!igi~usT hought,
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Instirute of Religion
http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield
Every eneration of Jewish thinkers has to reinvent how it is to
philossjphize about Judaism and out of Judaism. This book represents the
efforts of a group of young Jewish phitosophers who are attempting to
do this in a postmodern key. X t deserves the serious attention of those
who believe that this new phitosophicai approach can provide new
insights both into and out of Judaism,
David Movak,
J. Richard and Dorotky Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies,
University of Toronto
Reasoning A
THEOLOGY IN A POSTCRITICAL KEY
Series Editors: Stanley M. Hauerwas, Duke University,
and Peter Ochs, University of Virginia
BOOKS IN THE SERIES
Reasoning After Revelation:
Dialogues in Postmodern Jewish Philosophy,
Steven Kepnes, Peter Ocbs, and Robevt Gibbs
Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo:
Theological Reflections on Nihilism, Tragedy,
and Apocalypse, David Toole
Wilderness Wanderings: Probing Twentieth-Century
Theology and Philosophy, Stanley M. Hauerwas
Revelation Restored: Divine Writ and
Critical Responses, David Weiss Halivni
FORTHCOMING
After the Spirit: The Story of the Holy Spirit Eclipsed
by Nature, Grace, and Law, Etcgene F. Rogers Jr.
Ascending Numbers: Augustine's De Musica and
the Western Tradition, Cath~ri~Piec kstock
Ra~iiccalT radir;ions cuts new lines of inquiry across a confused array of de-
bates concerning the place of theology in modernity and, more generally?
the status and role of scriptural hit11 in contemporary life. Charged with a
rejuvenated confidence, spawned in part by the rediscovery of reason as in-
escapably tradition constituted, a new generation of thealogans and reli-
gious scholars is returning to scriptural traditions with the hope of retriev-
ing resources long ignored, depreciated, and in many cases ideologically
suppressed by modern habits of thought, Radial ?i.adil.ions assembles a
promising matrix of strategies, disciplines, and lines of thought that invites
Jewish, Christian, and Islamic theologians back ta the word, recovering
and ardcuiating modes of scriptural reasoning as that which always un-
derlies modernist reasoning and therefore has the capacity-and author-
ity-to correct it.
Far from despairing over modernity's failings, postcritical theologies re-
discover resources for renewal and self-correction within the disciplines of
academic study themselves. Fostcritical theologies open up the possibility
of participating once again in the living relationship that binds together
God, text, and communiv of interpretation. Radical Traditiopzs thus advo-
cates a "return to the text," which rneans a commitment to displaying the
richness and wisdom of traditions that are at once text based, hermeneuti-
cal, and oriented to communal practice,
boks in this series offer the opportunity to speak openly with practition-
ers of other faiths or even with those who profess no (or Eimited) faith, both
academics and nonacademics, about the ways religious traditions address piv-
otal issues of the day. Unfettered by fountfationalist prermupations, these
books represent a call for new paradigms of reason-a thinking and ratio-
nality that is more responsive than originative. By embracing a postcritical
pcsture, they are able to speak unayologetically out of scriptural traditions
manikst in the practjces of believing communities Uewish, Christian, and otlz-
ers); articulate those practices thou& disciplines of philosophic, texttaal, and
cdttlral critidsm; and engage intellectual, social, and political piactices that
far too long have been insrllated from theological evaluation. Radical Tradi-
tiolzs is radical not onZy in its confidence in nonapologetic theological speech
but also in how the practice of such speech challenges the cwrent social and
political arrangements of modernity.
This page intentionally left blank
Reason
DIALOGUES IN POSTMODERN
JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
Steven Kepnes, Peter Ochs,
and Robert Gibbs
with commentaries by
Yadit Korn berg Greenb erg, Susan E. Shapiro,
Elliot R. Wolfson, Almut Sh. Brtlckstein,
and Edith Wyschogrod
-, A Member of the 1"erseus Books C;rc?u.lup
All rights reserved, 1"rinted in the United States of America. No part of this publi-
cation may be reprorf~~cecolr transrnirted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including pl~otocspy,r ecording, or any information storage and re-
trieval system, without permission in writing from the publisl~er.
C-;opyri&t Q 1998 by Westview Press, A lilillember 05 the Pcrseus Bc~oksC roup
13ublished in 1998 in the United States of America by Westview Press, $500 Cen-
tral Avenuc, Boulder, Calarado 863301-2877, and in the United Kir~gdomb y Wcst-
view Press, 12 Hid3 Copse Road, Cumnclr Hill, Oxford OX2 9JJ
Library of Congress Catalo>ging-in-1kI>ticatic>nD ata
Kepnes, Steven, 19.52-
Reasoning after revelation : dialogues in postmodern Jewish
philosophy / Steven Kepnes, Peter CMs, and Robert Cibbs.
p, cm. - (Kadicaf traditions)
Includes bibliographical references and index,
ISRN 0-8 1.33-3506-X (he) -1SKN 0-8 133-6565-1 (pbj
1. Philosophy, Jewish, 2. f'ostmodernisfll-~etif:i~1~a~sp eccs-
.
Judaism. 3. judaism-20th century, 1, C)cl~s,P eter, 1950-
.
11. Gibbs, Kobert, 19.58- 111, Tide. IV, Series.
B5802.PQ7K46 1998
18 1" 06-dc2 I 98-20548
CI1'
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the Ainerican National
Standard for Permanence of Paper for hinted 1,ibrary Materials Z39.48-1984.
1ntellttctua.l Contexts, 1
Origins, 2
The Way We Reason After Revelation, 4
PART ONE
What Is Postmodern Jewish Philosophy!
I Initial Conversation 1l
2 Monologic Definitions 17
Postmodern Definitions, Peter Ochs, 17
Postmodern Jewish Philosophy, Robert Gibbs, 21
Postmodern Jewish Thinking, Steve~zK epnes, 24
3 Dialogic Practices
Enlightenment and Suffering, 29
Tesh~rvaha s a Distinguishing Mark
of Jewish Postmodernism, 35
HoIocaust, 40
Suffering, and the Other's Freedom, 42
Suffering, Negative Theology, and the Face of the Other, 46
Hermeneutics, 57
Such Torah, Such Reward! 62
Notes, 63