Spiritual Investment in the World: Jewish Theologies of Worldliness

What does it mean to have a spiritual investment in the world? This collective volume, comprising nineteen essays written by leading specialists in Jewish thought, attempts to answer this question by offering voices coming from the sources of Judaism. It is the first ever volume to explore all shades of Jewish theologies of worldliness, from the Bible through Rabbinic Judaism and Kabbalah, to modern Jewish philosophy and literature. The views may vary from pro-worldly to anti-worldly, from the affirmation of the material reality to its total negation, but the world as such always matters, whether metaphysically or ethically.