Conflicting Visions : Spiritual Possibilities of Modern Israel

Schocken Books, New York, first edition, 1990. Cloth-backed boards, 8vo, 24 cm,. xi, 292 pp. From the blurb: "When David Hartman emigrated to Israel with his family in 1971, he looked forward to becoming part of a society where everyday life would "give expression to the moral and spiritual power of Judaism." After nineteen years of living in Israel and witnessing the realities of its political and religious strife - the deep divisions between political parties, religious and secular Jews, and Jews and Palestinians - Hartman still affirms that the State of Israel remains the catalyst for the spiritual renewal of the Jewish people, as well as the laboratory in which Judaism's confrontation with modernity will be tried and tested. In Conflicting Visions, Hartman tackles some of the most vexing issues facing Judaism today: Is there common ground for a shared spiritual language between Orthodox, liberal, and secular Jews? What is the essential core of Jewish belief? Hew are we to understand the new militancy of the ultra - Orthodox? Can a tradition that values its particularity offer us guidelines for living with religious - and national - diversity? As an Orthodox, Yeshiva University-trained rabbi and scholar, Hartman makes a cogent case for a fresh theological perspective, one grounded in classic Jewish sources but it the same time responsive to the concepts of modernity, tolerance, and religious pluralism. In a heated political climate, Hartman raises an important voice for reason and moderation: "For those who recoil from the ultra-Orthodoxy that has captured so much of their country's politics, Hartman is perhaps Israel's paramount religious philosopher" (Time magazine). Founder and director of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, an advanced institute for Judaic scholarship, Hartman stimulates the kind of philosophical inquiry into Judaism that can inform Israel's contemporary quest for identity. In this deeply engaged book, Hartman reaches into the wellsprings of Jewish thought, both ancient and modern, for insights into building a just and authentic society. Fine in Near Fine dustwrapper.