The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion [Paperback]

Mordecai M. Kaplan (Author), Mel Scult (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kaplan emigrated to the United States from Lithuania at the age of 8. After graduating from Columbia University in 1902, he was ordained a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he taught for the next 50 years. His attempts to adapt Judaism to the modern world, particularly to the American situation, led to the establishment of a new movement, Reconstructionism. He saw Judaism as representing, first and foremost, a religious civilization and proposed a Jewish theology shaped by Jewish experience and Jewish ethics. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Publisher: Wayne State University Press (February 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814325521
• ISBN-13: 978-0814325520
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #816,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Introduction, December 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion (Paperback)

This book is Kaplan's most easily understood theological work. It is organized around the Jewish holidays but actually is an elaboration of the basic concepts of his theological system. This edition includes a new introduction, in which I attempt to put Kaplan's thought into historical perspective. Mel Scult

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion, June 19, 2008

By 

Joel Kravetz "Socrates student" (Stoughton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion (Paperback)

I am enjoying this new approach to the Jewish concept of God. I have been having a hard time relating to the old God. Kaplan makes my relationship meaningful.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Introduction is worth the price, December 22, 2006

By 

M. Graff "litigatorNYC" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion (Paperback)

The Introduction, by Mel Scult, Rabbi Kaplan's biographer, lays out the historical background and development of Kaplan's formulation of God. He does so in a clear and authoritative manner, so that when you have read it you know Kaplan, and understand how he has influence the Jewish thinkers of his time, and continues to influence the course of Jewish thought across denominational lines. Witness, the recent historic changes in the Reform and Conservative Movements. It is only to be hoped that the Reconstructionist Movement, which Kaplan founded, will not fixate itself at the place where Kaplan left it 60 years ago, but will continue to further evolve as a vibrant movement, as Kaplan himself would have wish, had he lived to continue his evolutionary thought.