Leading contemporary Jewish thinker David Novak has here compiled ten of his essays on a variety of issues in Jewish ethics. Drawing constantly on classical Jewish tradition, Novak also looks at a wide range of modern critical scholarship on the ancient sources. He aims to point out certain common features of Jewish and Christian ethics and the normative implications of this overlapping of traditions; he assumes the reality of a "Judeo-Christian ethic," while refusing to minimize the doctrinal differences between the two traditions. The essays address such major normative issues in social justice as ecology, war and peace, the treatment of minorities, and the approach to AIDS patients. This combination of theoretical reflection and practical application, along with careful and detailed analysis of classical Jewish texts, makes the book a welcome contribution to contemporary ethical theory and normative ethics as well as a work of original Jewish theology.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Professor Novak is one of those rare scholars that combines knowledge of classical sources with an ability to relate them to contemporary issues. He brings to bear interpretive skills and philosophical analysis imparting to his conclusions a sense of authority of the past and a feeling of poignancy of the present. Nowhere is this talent more in evidence than in his latest book Jewish Social Ethics. In it a variety of Jewish sources garnered from the totality of its literature is mobilized to show the consistency, indeed the profundity of Jewish teaching concerning societal and ethical living. Like Jacob's Ladder, he is firmly grounded in modern soil but "the top reaches up to Heaven."--David Weiss Halivni, Columbia University
"David Novak renders contemporary social thought an important service by bringing the rich resources of the classical Jewish tradition to bear on the normative dimensions of issues ranging from the protection of the environment and the creation of wealth to the treatment of minorities, AIDS victims, and criminal offenders. Novak's ability to communicate his insights to a diverse audience without compromising his own authenticity makes Jewish Social Ethics a marvelous demonstration of how religiously grounded moral reasoning can enrich public discourse in our pluralistic society."--Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard University
"David Novak's book is fascinating in its ingenious capacity to combine great erudition, religious passion and the will to address urgent moral issues of our time. Standing unapologetically within the Jewish tradition, Novak succeeds in bringing this tradition to bear on the public discussion of contemporary problems engaging non-Jews as well as Jews--a remarkable achievement."--Peter Berger, Boston University
"Novak notes that the voice of Judaism, (though not of dejudaized Jews) has been strongly silent in the area of public moral discourse despite the increasingly pluralistic cultural climate. He seeks to remedy this deficiency, and he succeeds. He is on his way to doing for the Jewish tradition of natural law what John Courtney Murray did for the Roman Catholic one generation ago: make it a major contributor to the national debates."--George Lindbeck, Yale University
"With his unique blend of intellectual sophistication, philosophic vision and Jewish traditionalism, David Novak here presents a challenging, broad scale interpretation of the modern Jew's social responsibility. It will surely inform, provoke and thus deeply instruct anyone concerned to do the good in our increasingly confused time."--Eugene B. Borowitz, Hebrew Union College
"David Novak's challenging new book Jewish Social Ethics advances the highly original and scholarly argument that Rabbinic Judaism presupposes natural law. On this basis Novak is able to develop an ethics for Judaism out of the classical sources which is thoroughly modern and engages with the most topical and difficult issues of our day. Novak's perspective cuts across many of the established positions in modern Jewish thought and opens up new prospects for the relation between general philosophy and Jewish philosophy."--Gillian Rose, University of Warwick
"Novak is one of the most creative thinkers in traditional Jewish religious circles today....There is a rich texture and integrity in his thought that rarely disappoints, even when one sharply differs with him on a particular issue. This new volume reveals Novak at his very best--a scholar deeply immersed in the varied interpretations of Torah as well as in Western philosophical and theological thought....His particular genius lies in his ability to suggest ways in which the rabbinic tradition can respond to a whole range of issues which the rabbis themselves could not have envisioned."--Theological Studies
"Novak is one of the leading theologians of his day from the standpoint of his knowledge of traditional sources and his ability to discuss them philosophically. The book is well worth reading."--Ethics
"David Novak is one of the more profound contemporary academics writing on Jewish ethics. His concern has been not only to articulate traditional Jewish ethics in terms of the Western academic discussion, but to do so in a way that makes true inter-religious dialogue possible. [Jewish Social Ethics] makes a major contribution to both goals."--Shofar
"Novak brings this rich tradition of religious practice and theological discussion into the arena of public debate... Novak's work is ground-breaking and deserves our most careful and sustained attention."--Menorah Review
"David Novak renders contemporary social thought an important service by bringing the rich resources of the classical Jewish tradition to bear on the normative dimensions of issues ranging from the protection of the environment and the creation of wealth to the treatment of minorities, AIDS victims, and criminal offenders. Novak's ability to communicate his insights to a diverse audience without compromising his own authenticity makes Jewish Social Ethics a marvelous demonstration of how religiously grounded moral reasoning can enrich public discourse in our pluralistic society."--Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard University
"David Novak's book is fascinating in its ingenious capacity to combine great erudition, religious passion and the will to address urgent moral issues of our time. Standing unapologetically within the Jewish tradition, Novak succeeds in bringing this tradition to bear on the public discussion of contemporary problems engaging non-Jews as well as Jews--a remarkable achievement."--Peter Berger, Boston University
"Novak notes that the voice of Judaism, (though not of dejudaized Jews) has been strongly silent in the area of public moral discourse despite the increasingly pluralistic cultural climate. He seeks to remedy this deficiency, and he succeeds. He is on his way to doing for the Jewish tradition of natural law what John Courtney Murray did for the Roman Catholic one generation ago: make it a major contributor to the national debates."--George Lindbeck, Yale University
"With his unique blend of intellectual sophistication, philosophic vision and Jewish traditionalism, David Novak here presents a challenging, broad scale interpretation of the modern Jew's social responsibility. It will surely inform, provoke and thus deeply instruct anyone concerned to do the good in our increasingly confused time."--Eugene B. Borowitz, Hebrew Union College
"David Novak's challenging new book Jewish Social Ethics advances the highly original and scholarly argument that Rabbinic Judaism presupposes natural law. On this basis Novak is able to develop an ethics for Judaism out of the classical sources which is thoroughly modern and engages with the most topical and difficult issues of our day. Novak's perspective cuts across many of the established positions in modern Jewish thought and opens up new prospects for the relation between general philosophy and Jewish philosophy."--Gillian Rose, University of Warwick
"Novak is one of the most creative thinkers in traditional Jewish religious circles today....There is a rich texture and integrity in his thought that rarely disappoints, even when one sharply differs with him on a particular issue. This new volume reveals Novak at his very best--a scholar deeply immersed in the varied interpretations of Torah as well as in Western philosophical and theological thought....His particular genius lies in his ability to suggest ways in which the rabbinic tradition can respond to a whole range of issues which the rabbis themselves could not have envisioned."--Theological Studies
"Novak is one of the leading theologians of his day from the standpoint of his knowledge of traditional sources and his ability to discuss them philosophically. The book is well worth reading."--Ethics
"David Novak is one of the more profound contemporary academics writing on Jewish ethics. His concern has been not only to articulate traditional Jewish ethics in terms of the Western academic discussion, but to do so in a way that makes true inter-religious dialogue possible. [Jewish Social Ethics] makes a major contribution to both goals."--Shofar
"Novak brings this rich tradition of religious practice and theological discussion into the arena of public debate... Novak's work is ground-breaking and deserves our most careful and sustained attention."--Menorah Review
About the Author
David Novak, Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies, University of Virginia.
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