Speaking/Writing of God

Michael Oppenheim is Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Concordia University, Montreal. He is the coeditor of Truth and Compassion: Essays on Judaism and Religion in Memory of Rabbi Dr. Soloman Frank; and author of What Does Revelation Mean for the Modern Jew?: Rosenzweig, Buber, Fackenheim and Mutual Upholding: Fashioning Jewish Philosophy through Letters.

"This book offers the best teaching job I have seen of otherwise very difficult material on Rosenzweig and Levinas, together with a comparable introduction to twentieth-century, liberal, and feminist Jewish commentaries on a number of central theological issues. It is a work of introductory, constructive Jewish theology, particularly useful for students and those new to these topics. Without jargon, it introduces readers to a wide selection of modern and postmodern Jewish theologies. Oppenheim brings the reader gently from the central insights of Levinas and Rosenzweig into the contemporary discourses in dialogic, feminist, and post-Holocaust philosophy; he teaches the reader how to understand dialogic and other forms of post-enlightenment philosophy and then to use it in their own thinking and practice. No one has integrated feminist and recent Jewish philosophy the way Oppenheim does here." — Peter Ochs, Wallerstein Professor of Jewish Studies, Drew University

• Preface Introduction: The Question of Speaking/Writing of God 1. Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas: A Midrash or Thought-Experiment 2. Rosenzweig and Levinas: On Anthropomorphism, the Holocaust, and God's Presence 3. To Notice the Color of Her Eyes: Facing the Feminist Jewish Critique 4. Color II—A Dialogue: Toward an Inclusive Religious Language 5. Judaism and Religious Pluralism: Faith and Mystery Conclusion: On Witnessing to the Divine Presence Notes Bibliography Index