Tag Archives: covenant
“Thankfulness”
Abbie is unable to write a new column this week because she and her husband, Jerry Martin, are stuck in Denver, CO, where a succession of flights home have been canceled. She and Jerry were in Denver for a fascinating … Continue reading
Posted in academe, action, alienation, cultural politics, culture, desire, erotic life, faith, friendship, guilt and innocence, history, ideology, philosophy, psychology
Tagged anger, bad faith, blessings, candor, collective community, Committee of Public Safety, consensus, covenant, decorum, dissent, Foucault, French Revolution, gratitude, Hebrew Scripture, homophobia, honesty, ideality, inauthenticity, insensitivity, Islamophobia, Israel, kibbutz, Leviticus, Mount Sinai, personal sincerity, politeness, political correctness, popularity, prayer, racism, ritual, sacrifice, sexism, Thanksgiving, The Archaeological Method, The Terror, Thought Crimes, Torah Study, unity
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Jewish Time
Jewish Time Lately, I’ve had a growing sense of living my life on something I call “Jewish Time.” Have I anything concrete in view? In my childhood, when my parents were awaiting Israeli dinner guests, they expected them to be … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, memoir, memory, mind control, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, novels, ontology, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, 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, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged being orphaned, Bucks County PA, Buddhism, covenant, covenant and geography, covenantal history, covenantal signatories, covenantal time, defining boundaries, desert vista, Divine intervention, divine manifestations, divine thunderclap, Eastern religion, empirical life, essential being, false transcendence, Fear and Trembling, getting one’s bearings, God as Co-Author, God in the storm, Hinduism, holy land and covenant, home sweet home, homelike experience, insider knowledge, Israeli time, Jewish time, late for dinner, lateness, life in history, loved and hated, meaningful timeline, modern Orthodox women, New York City, non-theistic systems, personal God, philo-semitism and antisemitism, philosophy, philosophy intro class, philosophy of religion, promised land, providential intervention, provincial customs, punctuality, religious boundary disputes, religious geography, setting one’s course, sincere words, spiritual systems, sub specie aeternitatis, subliminal losses, trans-empirical life, unspoiled landscape, worldly customs
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Rocky Mountain Lowdown
Rocky Mountain Lowdown Jerry and I have about finished the first leg of a complicated journey, the part that took shape in the cities of Denver and Boulder in the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado. Jerry had some talks to … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, Bible, Biblical God, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, freedom, guilt and innocence, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, immorality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, memory, moral action, moral evaluation, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, power, presence, propaganda, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, self-deception, social conventions, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "the true Israel", academic conference, academic papers, ancient land, annihilation of the Jews, anti-Israel, anti-semitism, argument, Boulder, chosen people, chosenness, Christian doctrine, Colorado, covenant, covenant with Israel, death camps, death of God, Denver, divine encounter, divine visions, Evil, Faith, false prophets, God, God and humankind, God's chosen people, God's existence, History, Holocaust, Holocaust survivor, human freedom, human rights, intellectual defense, Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish angels, Jewish army, Jews, Jews as witness, Nazi murders, Nazi regime, philosophical argument, philosophy, public intellectuals, Richard Rubenstein, Rocky Mountains, shamans, Shoah, spirituality, Supercessionism, the absence of God, the human story, The Jewish nation, the presence of God, the prophets, theology, trial of Adolf Eichmann, tribal women, tribe, truth, Ur of the Chaldees., witness
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“Presence”
“Presence” Our rabbi, whom our temple can no longer afford to employ, will be gone in a few more weeks. This Friday, the temple is holding a service in his honor and I am one of those in the lineup … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, memoir, memory, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, politics, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, seduction, self-deception, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twenty-first century, Utopia, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "be here now", "being here now", 1776, absence, America, American covenant, Biblical covenant, biblical criticism, biblical Israel, chagrin, clock time, covenant, Declaration of Independence, employment contract, Eternity, farewells, feminine side of God, Femininity, forefathers, Fourth of July, frustration, hail and farewell, half-absence, higher criticism, History, homesickness, Independence Day, insolvency, Jewish continuity, Jewish memory, Jewish scholarship, Jewish temporality, Jewish theology, Jon D. Levenson, Jon D. Levenson's Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible, living in the now, loss, maternal love, meditation, memory, moral courage, Mother, past present and future, patriotism, pop psychology, presence, Rabbi, rabbinate, sabbath, Shabbat, Shekinah, spirituality, temporality, Torah Study
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“God and Biography”
“God and Biography” When my journal entry doesn’t give me answers to the questions of my day, I sometimes ask myself: What would it have been like for me to live the same events recorded here, if there were no … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, childhood, Christianity, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, mortality, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, power, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Atheism, Bible, biographical subjects, biography, boarding school, British prep school, British public school, bullies, cancer, Christopher Hitchens, classical historians, clerical opinion, corrupted intellect, covenant, covenantal task, crony capitalist, cutting words, Daniel Dennett, deathbed conversion, debating skill, depravity, deserved tributes, evangelical Christians, fame, fashionable dodge, fashionable opinion, friendship, God, God and Israel, God's existence, gossip, grace of spirit, History, homophobe, horizontal explanation, intellectual fashions, intelligent hope, irresponsible gossip, Islamophobe, King James version, Larry Alex Taunton, Larry Taunton's The Faith of Christopher Hitchens, literary celebrities, literary talent, love of words, Loyalty, medicine for the soul, memoir, moral analysis, moral description, moral interpretation, off the record, Ontology, political correctness, psychoanalytic explanation, public atheism, public debate, public opinion, rabbis, racist, received opinion, religious authorities, Richard Dawkins, Roman empire, Sam Harris, secular history, secular humanism, self-understanding, sexist, sinners, social taboos, spiritual implications, spirituality, spritual interpretation, Tacitus, temple newsletter, the Establishment clause, The Four Horsemen of New Atheism, The New Atheism, theism, theologians, tools of a biographer, truth, uncorrupted intellect, unmentionable questions, vertical explanation, women friends, words as weapons
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“Grace Under Pressure”
“Grace Under Pressure” About one of her heroines, novelist George Eliot writes: “Her full nature … spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, chivalry, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history, idealism, identity, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, law, legal responsibility, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memory, mortality, oppression, past and future, political, power, promissory notes, psychology, public facade, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, self-deception, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, Utopia, work, Zeitgeist
Tagged 586 B.C.E., 70 C.E., accounting, Bible class, bitterness, blame, bookkeeping, call to preach, career choice, careerism, commitment, congregants, consolation, conversion, covenant, default, defeat, Dorothea Brooke, Exodus, fame, fame and obscurity, First Temple's destruction, George Eliot's Middlemarch, gossip, gossips, group solidarity, group therapy, Haggadah, hero, heroine, hidden lives, identity, identity change, insolvency, inspiration, institutional solvency, job search, life blow, life commitment, obscurity, Passover, presence, rabbi as teacher, rabbinate, rabbinic career, rabbinic job search, rabbinical Call, rabbinical rulings, rabbis, reassurance, resolve, saving remnant, Second Temple's destruction, seder, servitude in Egypt, shepherd of souls, solvency, Success, sustenance, teacher, Torah Study, unhistoric acts, unleavened bread
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