Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner's Theology of Meaning

The World Was Created for Me Studies in Musar Series, Volume 2
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-51350-1
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 81/2, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 226 mm, Gewicht: 567 g

Reihe: Studies in Jewish History and Culture / Studies in Musar

Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner's Theology of Meaning explores the profound, enigmatic, and novel thought of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, combining innovative analysis with rigorous textual and historical research. Through a reconstruction of his intellectual biography and the conceptual framework underlying his ideas, this volume generates a hermeneutical key to decipher his writings, revealing their focal points and systematic coherence, and positioning him as a post-existentialist theologian bridging Jewish tradition, modern philosophy, and existential inquiry. The methodology presented offers a valuable model for analyzing complex intellectual systems, making it essential reading for scholars of philosophy, theology, and intellectual history.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shalev, Alon

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien: Leben & Praxis, Soziale Aspekte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Rabbi Hutner – the Early Years 1.1 Youth 1906–1928 1.2 Years of Wandering: 1928–1934

2 Rabbi Hutner – the Later Years 2.1 First Steps on American Soil – 1934–1938 2.2 The Rosh Yeshiva – 1938–1964 2.3 The Final Years of Wandering: 1964–1980 2.4 Concluding Biographical Remarks

3 Pachad Yitzchak – Historical-Bibliographical Analysis 3.1 On Authoring 3.2 On Esoteric Writing 3.3 On Publication

4 The Intellectual Infrastructure of Pachad Yitzchak 4.1 Teleology I: Anthropocentrism 4.2 Teleology II: Theocentrism 4.3 Dualism 4.4 Eschatology 4.5 Intellectual Infrastructure in Sum: Existence and Significance as the Foundations of Rabbi Hutner’s Thought

5 Existence, Significance, and Singularity – the Core of Pachad Yitzchak 5.1 Authenticity and Meaning 5.2 Yehidut: Hutnerian Authenticity 5.3 Hashivut: Hutnerian Meaning 5.4 A Theologian Searching for Meaning, with Existentialist Tendencies

6 Torah and Secular Knowledge in Rabbi Hutner’s Thought 6.1 Distinct Domains: Torah and Science 6.2 “Prevention of Supremacy”: Secular Studies

7 Post-existentialist Theology 7.1 Being-towards-Death 7.2 Rabbi Hutner and Futural Projection 7.3 Perpetuality, Eternity, and Truth 7.4 Being-towards-Eternity

8 Rabbi Hutner and His Sources 8.1 Musar 8.2 Hasidism 8.3 Kabbalah 8.4 Hutnerian Religious Naturalism 8.5 Rabbi Hutner the Exegete

9 Conclusion – Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner’s Thought and Legacy

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Alon Shalev, Ph.D., is a research fellow and faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. His main interests are philosophy and theology of meaning in\of life and political philosophy.