July 30, 2014
Debates in Jewish Theology
Debates over Jewish theology have faded in recent years. Rabbis Shai Held and Meir Soloveichik explore why that is and much else.
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove wrote a provocative article in 2007 titled “Where Have All the Theologians Gone?” This is the question Shearith Israel rabbi Meir Soloveichik and Mechon Hadar rabbi Shai Held begin with: why is there so much less public argument about Jewish theology than there was in the middle of the last century? What does this say about contemporary Jewish life? About our synagogues? About our universities? About our interfaith relations?
The conversation moves from the sociology of theology to Jewish theology itself. Soloveichik and Held each reflect upon theologians whose ideas have been a fixture of their own work: Michael Wyschogrod for Soloveichik and Abraham Joshua Heschel for Held.
This conversation was convened on July 30, 2014, at the Tikvah Center in New York City.
