FIVE STAR
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Something Worthy of Respect/Unnecessarily Controversial By Aran Joseph Canes on September 5, 2017 Format: Paperback There has been some controversy regarding this book (one can Google Birnbaum to find the article which appeared in the English newspaper The Guardian) all of which is totally unnecessary. Once one understands the author’s intent and assumptions this book can be recognized as an important contribution to religious thought. What David Birnbaum has set out to do is answer the question, can traditional Judaism be rationally believed in given the Holocaust? As someone who has no family on my father father’s side, because they were to a man killed by the Germans, this question is of personal interest to me and many other partially or fully assimilated Jews. Most people conclude that the most rational explanation is that there is no Jewish God. The problem of justifying God in the face of evil resolves itself rather nicely if human beings are essentially no different than any other animal which can easily become somebody’s lunch. But Birnbaum is different. Not only is he interested in defending some notion of God he is interested in defending the Biblical God. And here is one place where the book becomes somewhat controversial. Birnbaum is not an academic theologian. This can be seen, for interest, in his use of biblical passages without regard for the historical critical method. He doesn’t get into the different notions of God employed by the various authors of the Bible or into when and by whom texts were written. But this isn’t a flaw or a lack of scholarship if one keeps in focus the intent of the book: can traditional Judaism be believed in after the Holocaust? That is, traditional Judaism is a given and it is only its continuation in the light of the unfathomable horror of six million murders that the book concerns itself with.
Are there other problems with belief in traditional Judaism? Yes, but the book doesn’t claim to respond to all counter-arguments. While academic theology is an acquired taste, those Jews, or other religious seekers, who want to hear a rational, modern account of this question--and as Birnbaum points out the alternative to rational religion is fanaticism--something we’re all too familiar with--Birnbaum is an excellent guide. The details of his answer, a re-conception of God and the universe in terms of potentiality, a reinterpretation of central biblical texts like the story of Adam and Eve, a new account of philosophical anthropology, the notion of Hester Panim or God’s suspension of omniscience and more are best read for oneself rather than having a reviewer oversimplify them in a few sentences. It is obvious, however, that Birnbaum has a firm grasp on not only the Bible but also on rabbinic tradition. It should be mentioned that Birnbaum is ultimately after something more than just a post Holocaust justification of the God of Israel. He clearly envisions a major paradigm shift in philosophy, theology and the natural sciences as the result of his ideas. Of course, such an ambition is bound to lead to controversy. I would argue, however, that these paradigm shifts are secondary to the major themes of God and Evil which can be read as a sincere effort in theodicy without following the hints that these ideas will lead to a more radical retransformation. In short, If you are somebody who is interested in whether traditional religions can be lived out in light of the depths of evil borne witness to in the modern world than by all means read this book. Don’t be put off by the author’s lack of academic standing. If you are interested in academic theology, and the number of us intellectuals who are is ever dwindling, you might want to pass as this is a work not primarily meant for academic theologians. But you would be missing out on an incredibly creative, sweeping view on how the Jewish faith can be rationally lived out in the modern world.
The question which has no satisfactory answer By Shalom Freedman on February 9, 2005 Format: Hardcover The question of how a good and just God allows there to be evil in the world has no truly satisfactory answer. Thus the most powerful and convincing part of this work is the author’s showing the shortcoming of various answers given by others. However instead of remaining discontent with his and our inability to answer this question the author makes a noble if in my opinion mistaken effort to explain this Evil by speaking of its contribution to human creative power and freedom. I agree that suffering often teaches, may help make a person a far better human being. It also may make them worse. I also agree that our service of God in the world means using our own powers and freedom for Good. But I do not see how this explains or even begins to explain the kinds of injustice millions of human beings have suffered in this world. There are throughout Jewish and human history millions of children who were killed before they had a chance to live. There were millions of largely innocent human beings who had to go through the worst possible horrors. What explanation can there be for this? That other evil people have done this ? But there are after all great destructions caused by Nature. And there are too Evils so out of proportion with what would be helpful to people’s ‘ growth’ as to make the whole presumption of its beneficiality ridiculous. I prefer the position of Rebbe Lev Yitzhak of Berditchev who put God on trial and yet continued praying to God. I believe that is the honest answer if there is one. As a person who needs God so much and prays to God all the time even as I write this now, I pray I am not making God angry with my words. But we have, I have no explanation for so many evils so much evil done , without justification or reason. God , where were You when so many of your children were....
Thorough and Careful Scholarship By Cincinnatus on July 15, 2010 Format: Hardcover David Birnbaum’s scholarly work is a careful and thorough piece of scholarship on an arcane subject that, in these days of the mass natural and man-made disaster, has even the general public scratching its head. As a Christian who had pretty carefully researched the literature on the subject of theodicy, I was very much surprised to find here numerous sources previously unknown to me--most of them Jewish scholarly works that add much to the intellectual material with which to work. I highly recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in theodicy--and also recommend it to those with merely a thoughtful interest in the subject.
If you only buy one book on theodicy then this is it. By Michael Brochstein on August 23, 1998 Format: Hardcover It doesn’t get much better than this, that is assuming you can talk about a theodicy not getting much better. David Birnbaum delivers a very very carefully thought out, consistent, organized and all encompassing theodicy/theology such that this might be last book you will feel the need to read on this subject. David doesn’t ignore other theodicies, he discusses all of them while on his path to presenting his. His thesis is consistent with the various streams of normative Jewish belief/law including the traditional ones.
can’t find the right words to describe the levels that this book reach By I. C. Onur on December 29, 2013 Format: Hardcover It’s so similar to dozens other that I have read and yet so different from each and every one of them... I cannot praise this book enough to come close to what it meant, taught me...
interesting (even if not completely persuasive) By Michael Lewyn on July 14, 2012 Format: Hardcover Birnbaum’s basic theory is the idea that free will requires evil (though of course this doesn’t explain nonhuman evil such as natural disasters, mental illness etc). But Birnbaum adds a broader theory of God and Man to buttress this idea. He begins with the idea that what makes God God is “potentiality”- the infinite ability to create. He infers from this that for man to reach his full potential he must “operate from a base of freedom”- that is, have gradually expanding freedom to create, i.e. free will, which in turn implies reduced Divine supervision. Expanding freedom leads to increased cumulative knowledge. But the price of this knowledge is more manifest evil. It is not clear to me what Birnbaum means by “increased knowledge” and “increased freedom”; I think he is trying to say that free will leads to improved technology, thus allowing evil to be committed more efficiently (e.g. with gas chambers as opposed to machetes). But his language is so abstract that I’m not sure if I understand him correctly.
Five Stars By shlomo on August 9, 2014 Format: Hardcover great book
An Ambitious and Courageous Philosophy By Aran Joseph Canes on September 7, 2017 Format: Paperback In Volume I of the Summa Metaphysica, the reader was introduced to a reinterpretation of Judaism in order to make it rational and livable with full consciousness of the horror of the Holocaust. The metaphysics generating this reformulation was explained, but the focus was primarily on Biblical and rabbinic sources. In Volume II of the Summa Metaphysica Birnbaum focuses less on Jewish tradition and more on explaining his metaphysical system. There is no doubt he is ambitious: the title Summa Metaphysica was chosen to imply that just as Thomas Aquinas provided a comprehensive philosophical and theological worldview that satisfied the medieval Christian, Birnbaum would like to provide his own philosophy as a worldview for us moderns. In essence, Birnbaum’s metaphysic hangs upon a version of the anthropic argument. He sees evidence everywhere that the universe was deliberately fashioned with mankind in view. The fulfilling of potential--human, universal and Divine--is the hinge on which the universe turns. As the material creatures most capable of fulfilling potential mankind is the crown of creation. Of course, many atheist philosophers, while acknowledging that the many contingencies and fine tuning necessary for the evolution of a rational being make our universe appear like it was designed for man, argue that this is actually the result of a lack of perspective. The hypothesis is that universes evolve all the time and that it makes sense that in one of the few universes suitable for intelligent life it may appear as if it developed with man in view but, again, this is simply a lack of proper perspective. I’m not going to wade into the voluminous literature on the anthropic argument except to emphasize that the theistic answer is pivotal to Birnbaum’s account. The unfolding of potentiality, beginning with the Big Bang, is actually a leveraged buyout (author’s term) on the creation of man. In a leveraged buyout one
pays for a business based on its future earnings. Here the analogy is drawn to the purpose of the Big Bang being the future creation of humanity. The second and third parts of the book, a description of the various good parts of human life as embodied in angelic spirits and some sage advice, while secondary in importance in imparting the author’s vision, humanizes what could be a rather abstract and potentially distant metaphysic. One final note: Although rigorous philosophic or scientific argument is not to be found in God and the Good this does not diminish its importance. What Birnbaum has done has laid out a vision of God, the universe and man and asks the reader whether this accords with his or her personal vision. One may not buy Birnbaum’s version of the anthropic argument, one may express real antipathy to his undermining of the Copernican Revolution by placing man again at the center of the universe but one can still appreciate the effort to create such a comprehensive worldview and the courage to share one’s innermost thoughts with all of humanity.
A signal contribution to theological thought on theodicy By Cincinnatus on March 21, 2009 Format: Hardcover David Birnbaum’s newest book, Summa Metaphysica II: God and Good, is a companion to his earlier work, Summa Metaphysica I: God and Evil. In these academically-acclaimed works, the author reconciles the mystery of God and the human condition, with a new metaphysical paradigm that is the first work to meaningfully go beyond Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica (c. 1265-72). In doing so, the author addresses a number of key issues in his newest book, including: What ignited the cosmos? Is there God? If yes, what actualized God? If God, why Auschwitz? If no God, why a universe? What is the purpose of man, God and the cosmos? If God, what is the core of the divine? Is there Intelligent Design? If yes, how? Is our reality real? What is the core dynamic of the cosmos? What is man’s role in the cosmic order? In essence, the author’s “Quest for Potential theory” argues that the “combined potentials for love, life, intellectuality, spirituality and, indeed, for an infinitely Perfect Divine, ignited, birthed, nurtured and projected the cosmos onward on its quest towards infinity.” The author’s content is deep enough to challenge Thomas Aquinas; his creative style of presentation and thoroughly contemporary expression make it as appealing to a fan of modern poetry as to a graduate student in theodicy. This work is being used by a number of seminaries for academic course material. As such, it is a signal contribution to theological thought in the area, which is both readable by interested non-specialists and a challenge to the academic community.
Birnbaum’s Sweeping Metaphysic is a Welcome Break from Philosophical Minutiae By Aran Joseph Canes on September 8, 2017 Format: Paperback Secular Man: The Transcendent Dynamic primarily discusses the concordance between David Birnbaum’s metaphysical theories and contemporary science, particularly biology and physics. The book does a good job of showing the harmonies between the two as well as the simplicity and explanatory power of a philosophy grounded in the idea of potential-both natural and human. I would offer only two critiques to the author. First, Birnbaum does not defend the idea that a philosophic system is necessary at all. In a time where most scientists would be glad to continue their work sans any overarching philosophical system, I think one reason Birnbaum’s ideas have not achieved more permeation into academia is that the whole project of philosophy as a legitimate academic discipline is not accepted by the majority of the scientific community. Secondly, while Birnbaum conducts a thorough survey of contemporary science to show where his theory is in agreement, he fails to provide falsifiable hypotheses. In other words, it would be much more interesting if Birnbaum said, “My metaphysics demands confirmation of the standard model of physics by the discovery of the Higgs Boson. If the standard model of physics does not hold up to scientific evidence my theory would be falsified.” Simply marshaling more and more evidence in support of one’s theory is not enough. A theory really becomes interesting when it leads to testable hypotheses that may or may not be falsified. Even so, Birnbaum’s potentiality metaphysics is an enormously creative and important contribution to philosophic discourse. Even to raise the idea of a comprehensive natural philosophy is a welcome break from the minutiae some contemporary
philosophers devote their careers to. I look forward to a Summa Metaphysica IV where the theory’s ramifications for human ethics is more thoroughly explained. It wouldn’t hurt as well if Mr. Birnbaum proposed some implications from his theory that are subject to falsification.
Bought it on kindle too! By PurpleThumb on August 18, 2017 Format: Paperback I bought this and even though at this time I have not even received it I will review it. Oh relax I bought it on kindle too and if you wanna know the truth I did not hafta to do either. Lol short story never mind... So here it is I like this I think it is spot on take my word for it or do not I do not care. Many will hate this work out of fear. It is frightening that is why it is called a “leap of faith”. You want truth fight the butterflies better yet learn to fly.