The Body of Faith: God and the People Israel [Paperback]

Michael Wyschogrod (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

The original edition of this book describes it as an attempt to 'develop a comprehensive understanding of traditional Judaism in conversation with contemporary philosophical and Christian thought.' This book has been praised by many as one of the most exciting and inspiring books of Jewish theology to be published in a long time.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568219105
• ISBN-13: 978-1568219103
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,124,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tour de Force From a Great Soul and Great Mind, January 9, 2007

By 

Stuart Dauermann "Bookaholic" (Los Angeles Area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Body of Faith: God and the People Israel (Paperback)

Wyschogrod is a Modern Orthodox Jewish scholar-philosopher, born in Germany, who taught at Baruch College (New York) and at the University of Houston. He is formerly director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Relations of the American Jewish Congress, and has taught at Bar-Illan University (Israel), Princeton Theological Seminary, and elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad. He is perhaps the closest thing the Jewish community has to a biblical theologian, and for this reason, is more accessible to Christian readers than most.

He holds for the priority of election as a category that must be recovered by the Jewish community. He sees the entire seed of Abraham and Sarah as elect and as one, despite ideological variations and differences. All Jews as obliged to live out the meaning of their election through maintining Jewish communal coheshion and intergenerational survival. Despite denials and avoidance of all kinds, Jews are meant to live lives of Torah faithfulness as a context and manifestation of authentic relationship with the Living God. He sees the Jews as "the abode of the divine presence in the world. It is the carnal anchor that God has sunk into the soil of creation" (256). As such, Jewish survival and fulfillment of its communal mission is important not simply to the Jews, but to the entire world--for God has chosen to make Himself one with this people, and to join His name to theirs.

Chapter 1, "A Partial Knowledge," discusses the eclipsed role of philosophy in Judaism, and deals with Jewish revelation as being a "dark knowledge," because it awaits an apocalyptic and therefore discontinuous future consummation. Chapter 2 continues the discussion of philosophy, and how the Christian theological tradition has embraced a philosophical approach alien to Jewish epistemology. Christian theology and philosophy abstracts principles, while Jewish revelation and experience are focus on story. The Christian and Jewish worlds contrast both epistemologically and ontologically. Israel's election is communal and corporeal, and this people coheres as an extended family rather than in ideological mutuality. "The foundation of Judaism is the family identity of the Jewish people as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . . . the seed of Abraham elected through descent from Abraham, This is the crux of the mystery of Israel's election" (57).

Chapter 3 , "The Personality of God," further confronts the divide between the Jewish and biblical revelation of God and that of philosophical theology. He helps us see how God has revealed himself to be a character in the great story in which Israel plays a central role. He is a person who, by creating a real world of real actors, and by becoming part of the story, freely takes on a certain vulnerability. This God is diametrically opposite to the static Prime Mover of the philosophical theological tradition, whether Christian or Maimonidean.

Chapter 4, "Created Being," is even more philosophical than the foregoing, and examines the relationship between being and God. "The chapter argues that nonbeing is the necessary corollary of being and that nonbeing, expressed in action, is violence" (xxxv). It also considers the issues of being, non-being, and existence, and how these pertain to thought about and the reality of God.

Chapter 5, "Ethics and Jewish Existence," considers the issue of the nature and purpose of law, especially God's law. Again, philosophical theology is seen as concerned with generalities and overarching principles, while Judaism concerns itself with particulars. Here he also discusses how God's specific-incident-based law can be rightly applied to new circumstances in such a manner as to conform to the Lawgiver's desires. The Jewish people and the reality of God are seen to be prior to and other than principles and philosophy. The reality that is Israel partakes of the unassailable otherness of existence itself: "God appears in history as the God of Israel and there can therefore be no thought about God that is not also thought about Israel" (175).

Chapter 6, "The Unrealized," speaks of the apocalyptic again, and contrasts a minimalist and a maximalist messianism. The former postulates a conservative and somewhat rigid and fearful continuity between the Torah Judaism of today and the eschaton, while the latter recognizes that in the nature of the case, the saving acts of God bring unforeseen newness. He advocates for a Judaism open to the future, one that preserves the Jewish people, faithfully awaiting a surprising consummation.

For its scope, clarity, and brilliance, "The Body of Faith" stands alone, a tour de force that welcomes us into the mind and soul of a great man and profound thinker who, in Abraham and like Abraham, yet stands before God (Gen 18:22). Bold and courageous, he confronts and overturns comfortable assumptions, Jewish and Christian, secular and religious. He challenges the Jewish world to live out the meaning of its corporeal election, and the Christian world to recognize that its supersessionism is not only inappropriate, but that any dismissal of the continuing election of Israel removes God from the world.

Wyschogrod's language is unfailingly careful and precise, his voice authoritative without self-aggrandizement. He comes across as a humble man, who, out of service to the truth, has had to speak prophetically to communities that may not like what they hear. While some books must be reread because they are obscure, this one warrants rereading because Wyschogrod calls us to greater depth and breadth than we are accustomed to. The book merits a hadran: a final word which says, "hadran alach--we shall return to you." Like a classical Jewish text, this one warrants repeated, even perpetual study.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book!!!, June 1, 2003

By 

Izzy (MI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Body of Faith: God and the People Israel (Paperback)

This author does a fantastic job of bringing out the deep meanings of Judaism. I find him profound and yet profoundly easy to read. He blends traditional Jewish theology and thought with modern philosophy. I particularly enjoyed his dialog with Christianity throughout the book. While making distinctions between the two faiths he also brought out deep similarities. Highly recommended for the Jew who wants to understand his faith more deeply and for the Christian to get a good understanding of Modern Orthodox Judaism and the role of Israel in the history of God's redemption!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Correction, March 11, 2006

By 

Anthony C. Sciglitano - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Body of Faith: God and the People Israel (Paperback)

Please note: The Title of the book is not God AND the People Israel, as Amazon currently reads, but God IN the People Israel. This is a crucial distinction as Wyschogrod wants to argue that Israel has a corporate and corporeal or incarnational sense of its relation to God that need not be expressed in the Aristotelian language of Christian doctrine.

The book is, as another reviewer wrote, written with clarity and thought. It is important to know that Wyschogrod pulls no punches with respect to Christianity. He admires the Christian theologian Karl Barth, and like Barth does not shy away from frank criticisms, some of which extend to Jesus, Paul, and Christianity in general. This makes for a lively read that should alert Christians to the idea that something is at stake in these discussions.