Tag Archives: Bible study

The Divine Name

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Abigail

I’ve been reading Martin Buber’s book Moses, with the result that the encounter Moses has with God at the burning bush – the one that burns but is not consumed – comes frequently to my mind. I don’t know if … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, science, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing | Tagged Bible study, challenged faith, controlling chaos, cost of untruths, creation ex nihilo, creation out of chaos, faith and pretense, feeling outnumbered, fight against chaos, fight for intelligibility, God as providential, hard reality of life, health and balance, Heaven as compensatory, hope and faith, hope and realism, I am that I am, ineffable beings, intelligent hope, Israeli mother, manipulating the divine, Martin Buber, Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber's Moses, memory suppression, Moses' sandals, necessary and contingent beings, Necessary Being, nonbeing, nothingness, one step ahead of chaos, prayer vs magic, providence as unpredictable, pulling one's self together, realism and faith, reconciling faith and reality, righteous combat, speculative theology, staying one step ahead, struggle for clarity, tautology, tetragrammaton, the burning bush, the Divine Name, the problem of evil, theodicy, theologians and providence, tohu va bohu, truthfulness, void and unformed | 2 Comments

Who’s In Charge Here?

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Abigail

Who’s In Charge Here? Today I read an essay about the meaning of life. It was written in the form of a book review by Peter Brooks of The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin. The review appears in the current … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Christianity, Cities, Class, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immorality, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, novels, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "New York Review of Books", accessing one's situation, administrative savvy, bad luck, belief systems, Bible stories, Bible study, causation in history, chance or design, cover story, death scene, discerning meaning, disciplined life, divine guidance, divine influence, Egyptian bondage, erotic temptation, failure as opportunity, failure’s lessons, family reconciliation, favorite son, fiction as instructive, fictional heroes, fictional life, fractured kneecap, fratricidal feeling, God as Co-Author, God in control, Hebrew Bible, History, housebound, how the story ends, imaginary character, intelligent choice, Joseph in Egypt, life plotline, life review, living intelligently, making lemonade out of lemons, Master Blueprint, meaning of history, meaning of life, moral framework, moral society, Moses, narrative closure, novelistic Bible stories, novelistic outlook, novelistic view, Peter Brooks’s review of The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin, phenomenological reduction, political smarts, promised land, providential influence, randomness of experience, rationalization, recognition scene, reconciliation, reunion scene, roll of the dice, self-awareness, self-correcting, selling your brother, sibling rivalry, sophisticated readers, the choices we make, the Joseph story, the novel, Walter Benjamin’s The Storyteller Essays, working the room, wrongly accused | 2 Comments

At a Loss

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Abigail

At a Loss Friends and readers of this column, I am really at a loss. I don’t know what to say as a woman, and I don’t know what to do as a woman. Let me at least tell … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a good life, a woman’s honor, a woman’s options, a woman’s voice, Abraham and Sarah, abusing a woman, atonement, being guilty, Bible study, blaming the victim, brazen response, Bullying, chronological living, counter-accusation, covenantal lineage, Day of Atonement, defeating a woman, defending men, defending women, discounting evidence, distance healing, dominating, email harassment, energy healing, evading the present, facing one’s time, facing the day, fake psychic, false accusations, false piety, feeling guilty, feminine being, feminine presence, femininity defeated, finding community, finding one’s footing, fraudulent spirituality, friendship, grounding one’s life, harassment, human dramas, inverting victimizer/victim relation, knee injury, liberated woman, life’s timeline, lived time, male gallantry, male projects, manipulative claims, men defending women, moral combat, no means no, nostalgia, not as advertised, one’s natural place, online friends, Paper trail, perfectionism, phony healers, prayer healing, predator, pretended atonement, preying on the vulnerable, promise breaking, pseudo-spirituality, purported healer, Rachel and Leah, Rebecca and Isaac, religious charlatans, religious community, religious fraud, respect for women, seduction, self-defense, sexual abuse, spiritual healing, spiritual integrity, stabilities of place, taking advantage, targeting the vulnerable, temporality rejected, the birthright, the Jewish assignment, Torah Study, trouble maker, truth in advertising, truthful witness, unwanted advances, valid complaint, victimizer, virtual spaces, vulnerability, women defending men, women’s biblical assignment, Yom Kippur | 6 Comments

The Devil in the Details

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Abigail

The Devil in the Details Depression is not an attractive word, but it describes my mood in recent days. Two explanations (or causes?) spring to mind. First: I have this neuropathy handicap. My walking lacks its former, rhythmic life-of-its-own, becoming … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", beat the devil, Bible study, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, corrupt influence, counterproductive remedy, decentered feeling, dentists, depression, expensive cavities, experimental treatments, fair fights, firm footing, Halakah, hard-bought wisdom, holistic treatments, hollow self, ideal life story, impersonal wisdom, incurable, Jewish observance, life rhythms, life story, limping, Loma Linda Hospital, malevolent spirit, medical treatments, midrashim, mood changes, narrative view, neuropathy, New Age, New Age-niks, patient no better, Pentateuch, personal identity, personal wisdom, philosophy of religion, physical footing, physical therapy, place to stand, placeholder self, Reform temple, reversals of fortune, shell of oneself, solitary walker, speculative theology, spiritual footing, stratagems of evil, taking a walk, talking it out, textual study, the devil, thought experiment, Torah Study, treatment failure, treatment success, walking handicap | Leave a comment

Kosher?

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Abigail

Kosher? O dear. This is what you call a “vexed” topic. A couple of years back, in my temple’s Saturday Torah Study, we came to verses that spell out what you are and aren’t supposed to eat, if you’re Jewish. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Childhood, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, politics, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged apostles quarrelling, Atheism, Bible study, Book of Acts, filial piety, Galatians, keeping kosher, keeping the law, kosher, kosher kitchen, mitzvot, observant Jews, real and false gods, secular gods, secular Jews, secular readers, secularism, Torah Study | Leave a comment

Battered, Bruised … but Unbowed?

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Abigail

Battered, Bruised … but Unbowed? Last week, reflecting on my deep reluctance to do anything that would promote my newly-released book, A Good Look at Evil, second edition, I determined that the real barrier isn’t that I believe I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged A. G. Eric Scheniderman, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", abusive men, abusive relationships, Amazon’s “Look Inside”, amazon’s books, assertiveness training, bad guys winning, being outnumbered, betrayal of trust, Bible study, Bill Clinton, book endorsements, book promotion, chariots of fire, cheering the sick, combatting adversity, compliance with abuser, coping with setbacks, decent manhood, defending one’s work, demands of nature, distance healing, electronic preview, embezzler, evil diagnosed, evil portrayed, female receptivity, female vulnerability, feminine pliancy, feminine sensitivity, femininity as social construct, feminism’s counsels, fictional stories, getting evil’s number, giving up the fight, hype, II Kings 6:15-17, internalizing real problems, jacket blurbs, Juanita Broaddrick, king of Syria, life as story, lifemanship, mirror of evil, modern cynicism, modernity’s worldview, mug shot, nameless adversary, narrative view, nature v nurture, neuropathy treatment, nineteenth century novels, nonfiction narrative, not giving up, Pentateuch, persistence as key, persistence as victory, prayer guidance, prayer-based healing, predator in disguise, projection, protecting one’s book, publication date, puffery, rabbinic duties, satanic attack, sexual predator, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, sting operation, stress fracture, string of accidents, taking oneself seriously, the sleeping dogs, thwarted story, Torah Study, true stories, unexpected guest, Victorian novels, woman's nature, women’s disguising armor, yin and yang | 2 Comments

A Steeper Cliff

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Abigail

A Steeper Cliff The escarpment of Sunday loomed as one of life’s steeper cliffs. At 10:00 a.m. that morning, Jerry was scheduled to give a talk about his book, God: An Autobiography as told to a philosopher. By now he’s … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged afterlife compensations, afterlife of pets, agnostic, aliens, an inconvenient God, believer, Bible study, Bigfoot, book talks, courage, credulity, different worlds coming together, divine chariot wheels, doubting, encountering God, epistemolgy, escapism, ghosts, God and history, God is love, God's messenger, God's pilot project, God's self-revelation, God's voice, God's words, Hallmark Cards, hearing God's voice, intermarriage, Jerry L. Martin's "God: an Autobiography as Told to a Philosopher", Jewish covenant, Jewish education, Jewish experience with God, Jewish memory, Jewish survival, Jews in Bucks County, Jews in Manhattan, joining a temple, keeping friends apart, life challenge, literary devices, loss of identity, male agnostic, marital adventure, meaning of Jews, mission from God, moral imperative, New Age, New Age banalities, New Age reading, other-wordly tourism, past lives, preserving memory, problem-solving, prophet, Q & A with God, real world problems, Reform temple membership, rhetorical devices, skepticism, straight talk, Sunday, Temple Judea, the God experience, the metaphysical inventory, theory of knowledge, Torah Study, we are all one | Leave a comment

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Tag Archives: Bible study

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