Accepting and Excepting - (Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah) by Raphael Jospe (Hardcover)

About the Book

Accepting and Excepting: On Pluralism and Chosenness Out of the Sources of Judaism argues for religious pluralism. Language, culture, religion, and gender color our cognition. Exclusive, absolute truth claims are meaningless. Revaluation enables Jews to affirm the Chosen People concept as internally directed, and observe traditional sancta without traditional theism.

Book Synopsis

Accepting and Excepting: On Pluralism and Chosenness Out of the Sources of Judaism argues for religious pluralism. Language, culture, religion, and gender color our cognition. Exclusive, absolute truth claims are meaningless. Revaluation enables Jews to affirm the Chosen People concept as internally directed, and observe traditional sancta without traditional theism.

Review Quotes

"Raphael Jospe is a thinking Jew and at the same time an important Jewish thinker. As a thinking Jew, he is not afraid to stake out brave positions on controversial topics such as the nature of Jewish chosenness, pluralism, idolatry, and prophecy among the nations. As an important Jewish thinker, he finds support for his positions in a wide variety of authoritative Jewish sources. These include the Bible and Rabbinic Literature, and thinkers such as Sa'dia Gaon, Judah Halevi, Maimonides, and Abraham ibn Ezra. Jospe brings these medieval thinkers into creative conversation with moderns like Moses Mendelssohn and especially Mordecai Kaplan. Throughout this lively and sparkling book, we also find Jospe himself in dialogue with a wide variety of contemporary scholars of Jewish Thought. Raphael Jospe is not only a thinker, but he is also an activist; for over a generation he has taken a leading role in encounters with Christianity and Mormonism. There is thus much to be learned from this learned and thought-provoking book."

-Menachem Kellner, Wolfson Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa and Founding Chair (retired) of the Department of Philosophy and Jewish Thought at Shalem College, Jerusalem

"Based on a learned reading of biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern sources, Raphael Jospe presents a smiling, wise, and pluralistic Judaism that respects and accepts the Other. In our divisive times, this is a welcome and urgent message."

--Zev Warren Harvey, professor emeritus in the Department of Jewish Thought, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"Raphael Jospe's Accepting and Excepting offers Jewish approaches to religious pluralism --both internal Jewish pluralism and Jewish views of other religions--which are a product of the author's reflections on this subject, starting when he was a thoughtful and inquisitive high school student to the present day, as a retired professor of Jewish philosophy. The result of these reflections is a book which is highly informed by scholarship but with remarkable personal aspects. Jospe's teaching, research and participation in intra-faith and inter-faith encounters make him uniquely qualified to address among other questions: How can Jews be loyal to their own religious and theological stances without denying or denigrating the positive aspects of competing religious doctrines? How can Jews advocate pluralism without adopting a relativistic approach towards their own beliefs? In our era of cleavage and controversy, this voice for tolerance out of the sources of Judaism is most welcome."

--Daniel J. Lasker, Blechner Professor Emeritus of Jewish Values, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

"The thread of blue binding this book's pages is a line Mordecai Kaplan sent the future author in 1967: 'In Judaism as a civilization, "belonging" is prior to "believing" although meaningless without believing.' Collating years of study, seeking the meanings and connections of believing and belonging, Raphael Jospe traces the narrow ledge dividing pluralism from relativism, always surer of his footing on solid moral ground than trusting pitons anchored overhead. Torah and Talmud, and philosophical classics from Aristotle to Kant, mark the trail with traces of bold advances and partial falls. Maimonides, Nahmanides, Bahya, and Halevi have left guideposts and cautions. So have Muslim philosophers like al-Farabi, al-Ghazali, and Averroes, and Jewish greats from Rashi and Ibn Ezra to Spinoza and Mendelssohn, from Falaquera to Rosensweig, Buber, Heschel, and Jonathan Sacks. The probing conversation does not neglect our own contemporaries, many of them Jospe's friends and fellow seekers."

About the Author

Raphael Jospe (Ph.D. Brandeis University) is a retired professor of Jewish philosophy in Jerusalem. Author/editor of more than 20 books and editor of the Jewish philosophy division of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, he is involved in inter-religious dialogue and has lectured at the Vatican and at the World Council of Churches.