The
Torah and Its God: A Humanist Inquiry
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- Jordan Jay Hillman
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"What remains of the Torah
when we openly acknowledge that its God exists in the human mind
alone, having been created by human authors as a means, in their
time, of inspiring a people toward its highest ends?" So
opens the author's humanist inquiry into the Torah and its God.
What follows, based on modern scholarship regarding the Torah's
human authorship, is a detailed, respectful, and innovative reading
of these first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
Jordan Jay Hillman contends that Judaic humanism derives logically
from the recognition and acceptance of the human origins of the
Torah and its God. In his view, the omnipotence and sanctity with
which the Torah's authors brilliantly endowed their Godly creation
served effectively to obscure His creation by humans for human
purposes. In this they were aided by an enduring common tradition
of Godly revelation and human transcription.
Amid their own and surrounding cultures, the creators of the
Torah and its God well understood that He could not serve effectively
as a means to human ends without added stature as a human end
in Himself. As an aspect of that stature, they sought to embed
the conscience of an entire people in His will. In the world they
knew, the acceptance of the Torah's social values and moral and
ethical standards would require nothing less.
In our time, however, Hillman believes that the Torah is best
understood as a human effort to internalize its social, moral,
and ethical teachings in the conscience of a people. As such,
he views the Torah as a towering milestone in humanity's moral
and ethical development.
Jordan Jay Hillman is Emeritus Professor of Law at the Northwestern
University. From the University of Chicago he holds a Master of
Arts in Political Science and a Juris Doctor, and from Northwestern
University he holds a Doctor of Juridical Science.
[Note by publisher]
Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2001.
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$40.00
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