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Secular Judaism: Faith, Values,
and Spirituality Yaakov Malkin |
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The
majority of Jews throughout the world are secular. However, few can define
their secular beliefs. Secular Judaism: Faith, Values, and Spirituality
attempts to articulate these beliefs and the practices of Secular
Judaism. It discusses Secular Humanist values, Judaism as Culture and
examines Judaism as both a religion and a "nation". It also raises
the "Who is A Jew?" issue and presents the Bible as source of collective
memory and the foundation of Jewish culture and civilization, going on to
examine classic texts and the secular view on "God as Literary
Hero". The idea of pluralism as being not merely desirable, but as
having existed in accord with ancient life and tradition is dealt with and
the Talmudic mechanisms of debate and implied democratic values are described. Finally the difference between
pluralism and relativism and the danger of the latter is discussed together
with a secular humanistic perspective on the need for "spirituality",
with emphasis on community and principles of education. Secular Judaism
proposes an orientation and guidelines for a curriculum in "Judaism
as Culture" studies and deals with both theoretical issues and practical
experiences of secular Jewish communities. |
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