From Idolatry to Holiness

A Modern Ethical Framework for Understanding Jewish Law
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-009-86315-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 366 Seiten

An ethical approach to religion tries to make sense of religious claims in terms of values shared by religious and secular people alike. In From Idolatry to Holiness, Samuel Fleischaker contributes to that project by providing an ethical framework for understanding the purpose of Jewish law (halakha). He begins by interpreting idolatry as self-worship, and explores the idea, advocated by Moses Maimonides, that Jewish law aims at curing people of idolatry. Though he endorses aspects of this idea, Fleischacker criticizes Maimonides and his modern followers for having an alienating and remote conception of God and a thin conception of the purpose of human life. He then uses ideas gleaned from Immanuel Kant, Søren Kierkegaard, and Martin Heidegger to provide a richer conception of God and of our lives. Halakha does not just free us of self-worship, Fleischacker concludes. Rather, it enables us to experience the presence of God-holiness-in everything around us.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fleischacker, Samuel

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; 1. What is idolatry?; 2. Plato against idolatry; 3. Platonic art; 4. Platonic Halakha – Maimonides; 5. Problems with Platonic Halakha; 6. Modern Maimonideans; 7. Advantages and disadvantages of Maimonideanism; 8. Beyond Plato; 9. Beyond Platonic Torah; 10. Beyond Platonic Halakha; 11. Holiness; Glossary; Notes.

Über Autor(innen)

Fleischacker, Samuel
Samuel Fleischacker is the LAS Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Chicago.  He is the author of Divine Teaching and the Way in the World (2011) and The Good and the Good Book (2015).