“The Many Faces of God,” a reader of “modern Jewish theologies,” begins with this truism: The perception, experience, and understanding of God are of infinite variety. Contem-porary Jewish religious thought is based upon the creative thinking and feeling of theologians who see, describe, interpret and value God in different ways. They each articulate a unique visage of God.
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, a theologian at Boston College, has selected excerpts from the writings of 15 eminent Jewish philosophers, some familiar (Martin Buber, Mordechai Kaplan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Emil Fackenheim, Harold Kushner) and some not so well known (Richard Rubenstein, Alvin Reines, Richard Levy, Margaret Wenig, Judith Plaskow.)
From these the editor gives us a taste of the flavors of God, as fashioned by a group of scholars who have helped to define modern liberal Judaism. There is only space here to briefly focus upon the subject of God for two towering figures in the anthology, Buber and Heschel. These stand out for their literary power, which we shall demonstrate momentarily.
Of course, any anthological selection is necessarily incomplete. For example, the book does not treat such modern giants as Franz Rosenzweig or David Hartmann, both of whom wrote substantive books on God.
Martin Buber (1878-1965) concentrated on the inner needs of the individual which could be fulfilled only through relationships with other persons, things and, ultimately, with God. Through dialogue which Buber famously captioned as “I and Thou,” we encounter God in everyday life, in which we attempt to deal with our own existential challenges.
Buber’s own words characterize the great theologian’s “face of God:” “For Judaism, God emanates from the immediacy of existence, which the religious man steadfastly confronts and nonreligious man evades. He is the sun of mankind. However, it is not the man who turns his back on the world of things, staring into the sun in self-oblivion, who will remain steadfast and live in the presence of God, but only the man who breathes, walks, and bathes his self and all things in the sun’s light.” Buber’s metaphor is a compelling affirmation of the power of personal responsibility and individual choice.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) became one of the 20th century’s leading exponents of the prophetic and mystical traditions of Judaism. He and Buber taught at about the same time at the Lehrhaus in Frankfurt. Heschel describes a God-centered approach in which the beginning point is God and not humanity, a view in conflict with his mentor and colleague, Buber.
The following excerpt from Heschel demonstrates his belief that God is not apprehended through rational thinking, but is known intuitively through deep religious insights, what Heschel called “depth theology.”
“Thinking of God as a speculative problem may perhaps start out with the premise of God’s absolute mysteriousness. Thinking of God as a religious problem with wonder, awe, praise, fear, trembling, and radical amazement … God cannot be distilled to a well-defined idea. All concepts fade when applied to his existence.”
Buber and Heschel present intellectual and spiritual challenges to the reader, as do the ‘”many faces of God” represented by the other thirteen authors in this collection of deeply felt and brilliantly articulated writings. It is sometimes tough sledding, but Sonsino helps out with brief introductions to each selection.
The role of anthologies ought not to be underestimated in one’s education. While they do not necessarily provide short cuts to understanding, the common grouping does offer an opportunity to compare, contrast and explore ideas. A wise selection puts the reader at the threshold of a general acquaintance with a given topic or theme, and highlights the multiplicity of viewpoints within it.
The real pleasure is in realizing that these alternative approaches to God contend at deep and profound levels of human thought, feeling and experience. “The Many Faces of God” is a journey to awareness, knowledge, and spiritual action.
“The Many Faces of God: A Reader of Modern Jewish Theologies,” edited by Rifat Sonsino (257 pages, New York: URJ Press, $15.95).