Idolatry

by Moshe Halbertal

Book Overview

You shall have no other gods besides Me. This injunction, handed down through Moses 3000 years ago, marks one of the most decisive shifts in Western culture: away from polytheism toward monotheism. Despite the momentous implications of such a turn, the role of idolatry in giving it direction and impetus is little understood. This book examines the meaning and nature of idolatry - and, in doing so, reveals much about the monotheistic tradition that...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674443128
• ISBN13: 9780674443129
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 299 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A Partial Assessment

Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at Hebrew University and a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. He received his Ph.D. from Hebrew University in 1989, and from 1988-92 he was a fellow at the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. Moshe Halbertal has also served as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, and at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is David Hartman's son-in-law. He is the author of the books Idolatry (co-authored with Avishai Margalit), and People of the Book: Canon, Meaning, and Authority, both published by Harvard University Press. He has also authored two books, Interpretative Revolutions in the Making, and Between Torah and Wisdom: R Menachem ha-Meiri and The Maimonidean Halakhists in Provence, both published in Hebrew by Magnes Press. His last book published in Hebrew is Concealment and Revelation: The Secret and its Boundaries in Medieval Jewish Thought (Yeriot, 2001). His most recent work is Concealment and Revelation: Esotericism in Jewish Thought and its Philosophical Implications. Halbertal's work is always interesting and thought provoking. He has the ability to use concepts and categories of modern philosophy, sociology, anthropology and religious studies to classify Talmudic disagreements, explain various positions in the rishonim and like a seasoned lamdan give and take within the sygyos and around them. It is almost like a new genre of learning, let's call it "academic-talmudic fusion"; many attempt it but few do it well. Dr. Halbertal's books are chock-full of insights. Some are more speculative than others bit each book contains some revelation (no pun intended), some explanation that elucidates obscure and complex questions and gladdens the heart. They are more a collection of related ideas than a single well-developed argument, but in each there are gems. Marring his books is a tendency to end each one with an involved discussion of modern philosophical issues in the light of what was related of the Jewish tradition rather than the opposite, but this is, perhaps, a flaw which is in the eyes of the beholder. I am naturally more interested in the Jewish angle and not in how it related to modern fields of inquiry than vice versa - but the, again, I am not an academic, who needs to swim in those waters, like Professor Halbertal. To give three examples: In Concealment and Revelation.. Dr. Halbertal develops an idea that esoteric knowledge is by definition unstable, for it begs to be revealed in hints and allusions. As such, it invites fuller and fuller revelation at each stage. He shows how this process led to uncovering of Kabbalah in pre-exilic Spain. There were two centers of Kabbalstic learning in Spain, one located around Talmudists, like Raavad and Ramban. The other was composed of the students of R. Ezra and Azriel and R. Moshe of Burgos. Since the two schools disagreed in many details, when one school revealed something, it had to be countered by a revelation

Deep and with alternative view points...

This is a book that is deep in thought and that allows a person to do critical thinking about personal values and scripture. It isnt biased, but allows for more meaning to be found in the scripture than what is the norm. If you are looking for a book that is scholarly and that you will learn from, then this is the book to buy. One reading alone will not suffice, and each time you reread you get more out of it. It is good for people wanting to look at spirituality inside and outside of religion.

great book

I read this book after my first year of college, where i had taken two religion courses, and i thought this book was marvelous. it looks at idolatry from the judaic perspective, and gives what i thought was a good discussion of the phenomenon from many different points of view - the torah, the prophets, Maimonides, Nachmanides - wow. It also includes some discussion of relevant but more general aspects of judaism, like the sefirot. i felt like this book helped my understanding not only of idolatry but of judaism as a whole. in short - interesting ideas, very well said.