The Radical American Judaism Of Mordecai M Kaplan

Author : Mel Scult
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 0253010888
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan written by Mel Scult and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-29 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An important and powerful work that speaks to Mordecai M. Kaplan’s position as perhaps the most significant Jewish thinker of the twentieth century.” (Deborah Dash Moore coeditor of Gender and Jewish History) Mordecai M. Kaplan, founder of the Jewish Reconstructionist movement, is the only rabbi to have been excommunicated by the Orthodox rabbinical establishment in America. Kaplan was indeed a radical, rejecting such fundamental Jewish beliefs as the concept of the chosen people and a supernatural God. Although he valued the Jewish community and was a committed Zionist, his primary concern was the spiritual fulfillment of the individual. Drawing on Kaplan’s 27-volume diary, Mel Scult describes the development of Kaplan’s radical theology in dialogue with the thinkers and writers who mattered to him most, from Spinoza to Emerson and from Ahad Ha-Am and Matthew Arnold to Felix Adler, John Dewey, and Abraham Joshua Heschel. This gracefully argued book, with its sensitive insights into the beliefs of a revolutionary Jewish thinker, makes a powerful contribution to modern Judaism and to contemporary American religious thought. “An interesting, stimulating, and well-done analysis of Kaplan’s life and thought. All students of contemporary Jewish life will benefit from reading this excellent study.” —Jewish Media Review “The book is highly readable―at times almost colloquial in its language and style―and is recommended for anybody with a familiarity with Kaplan but who wants to understand his thought within a broader context.” —AJL Reviews

Author : Emanuel Goldsmith
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 0814732577
Total Pages : 479 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan written by Emanuel Goldsmith and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1992-10-01 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mordecai M. Kaplan, a pioneering figure in the reinterpretation and redefinition of Judaism in the 20th century, embraced religious liberalism, naturalism, and empiricism, and gave expression to a unique American attitude in philosophy and theology. This volume, the first comprehensive treatment of Kaplan since his death in 1983 . . . illustrates Kaplan's links to traditional Jewish roots and demonstrates his evolutionary philosophy of Jewish culture, his Zionist orientation, and the vast range of his thought and action. The volume also features a complete bibliography of Kaplan's writings. -- ChoiceA must for every serious thinker probing American Jewish culture, history and theology. -- Alfred GottschalkPresident, Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion These highly knowledgeable essays provide us with a new and more complex image of a central personality in 20th century American Jewish life. They are indispensable for understanding the influences that helped shape Mordecai Kaplan's thought and personality, the nature of his relationships with significant contemporaries, and the various aspects of his ideology and practical program for American Jewry. -- Professor Michael A. MeyerDepartment of Jewish HistoryHebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion This leading American Jewish thinker of the pre-war period is still the point of departure for any attempt to construct a Judaism for this new age in the history of the Jewish people. The volume brings them an and this thought to life. -- Dr. Arthur GreenPresident, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Author : Mel Scult
Publisher : Modern Jewish Experience
ISBN 13 : 9780253010759
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.56/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan written by Mel Scult and published by Modern Jewish Experience. This book was released on 2013 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mordecai M. Kaplan, founder of the Jewish Reconstructionist movement, is the only rabbi to have been excommunicated by the Orthodox rabbinical establishment in America. Kaplan was indeed a heretic, rejecting such fundamental Jewish beliefs as the concept of the chosen people and a supernatural God. Although he valued the Jewish community and was a committed Zionist, his primary concern was the spiritual fulfillment of the individual. Drawing on Kaplan's 27-volume diary, Mel Scult describes the development of Kaplan's radical theology in dialogue with the thinkers and writers who mattered to him most, from Spinoza to Emerson and from Ahad Ha-Am and Matthew Arnold to Felix Adler, John Dewey, and Abraham Joshua Heschel. This gracefully argued book, with its sensitive insights into the beliefs of a revolutionary Jewish thinker, makes a powerful contribution to modern Judaism and to contemporary American religious thought.

Author : Mel Scult
Publisher : Wayne State University Press
ISBN 13 : 0814347681
Total Pages : 426 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Communings of the Spirit written by Mel Scult and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars of Judaica and rabbinical studies will value this honest look at the preeminent American Jewish thinker and rabbi of our times.

Author : Mel Scult
Publisher : Wayne State University Press
ISBN 13 : 0814341624
Total Pages : 343 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Communings of the Spirit written by Mel Scult and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2016-10-10 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With honesty and vivid detail, Kaplan explores his evolving beliefs on religious naturalism and his uncertainties and self-doubts as he grapples with a wide range of theological issues.

Author : Mel Scult
Publisher : Wayne State University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780814322802
Total Pages : 444 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century written by Mel Scult and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kaplan, who died in 1983 at the age of 102, arrived in America as a boy, and, as he grew, sought to find ways of making Judaism compatible with the American experience and the modern temper. He founded the Jewish Center and the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, establishing the prototypes for the modern expanded synagogue. This biography reappraises the significance of his contributions and offers an intimate look at the man and his thinking. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author : Mordecai Menahem Kaplan
Publisher : Legare Street Press
ISBN 13 : 9781022892354
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Judaism as a Civilization written by Mordecai Menahem Kaplan and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2023-07-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1934, Mordecai Kaplan's groundbreaking study of Judaism as a civilization remains a landmark work of Jewish thought. Kaplan argues that Judaism is not just a religion, but a comprehensive civilization that encompasses everything from language and literature to art and social organization. He lays out a program for the reconstruction of American-Jewish life that is still relevant today, and his ideas have had a profound influence on Jewish thought and practice in the United States. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Author : Mordecai M. Kaplan
Publisher : Wayne State University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780814331163
Total Pages : 568 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Communings of the Spirit written by Mordecai M. Kaplan and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2002-05 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881-1983), founder of Reconstructionism, is the preeminent American Jewish thinker and rabbi of our times. His life embodies the American Jewish experience of the first half of the twentieth century. With passionate intensity and uncommon candor, Kaplan compulsively recorded his experience in his journal (some 10,000 pages). This first volume of Communings of the Spirit covers Kaplan's early years as a rabbi, teacher of rabbis, and community leader. Kaplan, who trained rabbis for half a century, gives us an inside picture of life at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the center of Conservative Judaism in America. He records his masterful weekly sermons, which were attended regularly by his students. With unflinching candor, he reveals his successes and failures, uncertainties and self-doubts. Undeterred by attacks on his radical beliefs, he never wavered in the pursuit of a more dynamic Judaism.

Author : Jeffrey S. Gurock
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231504492
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community written by Jeffrey S. Gurock and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1997-02-03 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of the Reconstructionist movement, was the most influential and controversial radical Jewish thinker in the twentieth century. This book examines the intellectual influences that moved Kaplan from Orthodoxy and analyzes the combination of personal, strategic, and career reasons that kept Kaplan close to Orthodox Jews, posing a question crucial to the understanding of any religion: Can an established religious group learn from a heretic who has rejected its most fundamental beliefs?

Author : Mel Scult
Publisher : Wayne State University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780814322796
Total Pages : 442 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century written by Mel Scult and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century is the first critical examination of the early life of Mordecai Caplet—the sources of his inspiration, the evolution of his thought as a religious ideologue, and his inner struggles. Kaplan is perhaps the most important Jewish thinker to appear on the American scene in the last one hundred years. Arriving in the United States as a boy, growing up in New York City, becoming thoroughly Americanized, he struggled to find ways of making Judaism compatible with the American experience and the modern temper. Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century returns to the freshness of Kaplan's earliest formulations and concludes with the publication of Judaism as a Civilization in 1934. Based on a mass of unpublished letters, sermons, and a twenty-seven volume journal, this richly textured biography reappraises Kaplan's significance and offers an original and intimate look at the man, his mind, and his work.