Tradition Vs Traditionalism Contemporary Perspectives In Jewish Thought 1st Edition Avi Sagi by Avi Sagi 9789401206426, 9401206422 instant download after payment.

This book is a first attempt to examine the thought of key contemporary Jewish thinkers on the meaning of tradition in the context of two models. The classic model assumes that tradition reflects lack of dynamism and reflectiveness, and the present's unqualified submission to the past. This view, however, is an image that the modernist ethos has ascribed to the tradition so as to remove it from modern existence. In the alternative model, a living tradition emerges as open and dynamic, developing through an ongoing dialogue between present and past. The Jewish philosophers discussed in this work--Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, David Hartman, and Eliezer Goldman--ascribe compelling canonic status to the tradition, and the analysis of their thought discloses the tension between these two models. The book carefully traces the course they have plotted along the various interpretations of tradition through their approach to Scripture and to Halakhah.