Torah from Heaven

Traditional Jewish religious belief speaks of a divinely revealed, perfect text, authoritatively expounded. The question this book addresses is one with which the author has struggled all his life: in the light of historical criticism, advances in knowledge, and changing moral attitudes, is the traditional notion of divine revelation and authoritative interpretation still valid? The focus is on Judaism and the examples are mostly drawn from that tradition, but the arguments are easy to transpose to other religions.

Norman Solomon’s discussion will appeal to those who seek to identify with a religious community, but who are troubled by the claim of divine authority made for the scriptures of that community. Ranging across several academic disciplines, it is addressed to people of all religions who find their heads and their hearts are not in accord with each other. It is accessible to a general readership interested in the relationship of scripture, interpretation, and religious authority, though scholars will find original observations and historical interpretations in many areas. It should find a ready place in university and popular programmes in Jewish studies, general theology, and philosophy of religion.

Note on Transliteration

Introduction
Orientation
Where I Come From • The Seduction of ‘True Belief’ • What Does It All Mean? • Philosophical Beginnings • Facing the Questions • Pulpit and Prejudice • Interfaith Dialogue • Academic Detachment?

Part I Revelation
Torah from Heaven: Growth of a Tradition
1 Holy Books
What is ‘Torah’? • The ‘Sacred Canon’ • Why the Five Books are Special • Philo on Moses and the Ancestral Books • Conclusion

2 Two Torahs? Scripture and the Rabbis
Divine Revelation: The Story • Mythic accounts of Torah • The Written Torah and the Oral Torah • Rules of Interpretation • Interpretation Against the Plain Meaning • Conclusion

3 Mystics and Kabbalists
Pythagoras, Numerology, and the Book of Creation • Mystical Significance of the Mitzvot • Prophets after the Bible • Nahmanides (Ramban) the Mystic • Conclusion

4 The Great Chain of Being: Philosophers and Kabbalists
Platonists and Aristotelians • The Ascent of the Soul • The Descent and the ‘Shells’ • Reasons for the Mitzvot • Conclusion

5 Maimonides: The ‘Classical’ Position
Revelation as History • The Oral Torah • Torah and Dogma • Conclusion: Maimonides the Minimalist

6 Oral Torah: What Does It Contain?
Does the Torah Teach Science? • The Torah of Kabbalists and Rationalists • Conclusion

Summary of Part I

Part II Attack
The Counter-Tradition: Hard Questions
7 The Counter-Tradition
The Alexandrians • Sadducees and Pharisees • Pagan Philosophical Critiques • Gnosticism • Later Developments • Conclusion

8 The Original Torah
How Texts Were Written • Evidence of the Scrolls and the Ancient Versions • The Severus Scroll • Can the Original Text be Recovered? • The Masoretes • Rabbinic Responses to Textual Variation • Modern Editions of the Bible • Conclusion

9 Contradictions, Moral Problems, Factual Errors
The Reconciling Hermeneutic • Interpreting Aggadah • Historical and Archaeological Problems • Moral Issues • Scientific Inaccuracy • Fantasy, Arbitrariness, Superstition • Conclusion

10 The Rise of Historical Criticism
The Beginnings of Biblical Criticism • Deists and Sceptics • The Bible as Literature • From History to Myth • Source Theory • Archaeology • Higher Criticism = Higher Antisemitism? • Conclusion

Summary of Part II

Part III Defenders of the Faith
Repairing the Breach: In Defence of Tradition
11 Defenders of the Faith
What Must Be Defended • Ancient Wisdom Restored: The Renaissance • Jewish Bible Commentary Rekindled • Conclusion

12 The Transformation of Judaism: Interpretation, Interpretation, Interpretation
Elijah, the ‘Vilna Gaon’ (1720–1799) • Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) • Torah— Mystical Code, or Source of Values?

13 Mendelssohn’s Influence
I. S. Reggio (1784–1855) • S. D. Luzzatto (1800–1865) • Heinrich Graetz (1817– 1891) • Umberto Cassuto (1883–1951)

14 Independents
Jacob Zevi Mecklenburg (1785–1865) • Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888) • Meir Loeb ben Yehiel Michael Malbim (1809–1879)

15 In the Steps of the Gaon: Written and Oral Torah Are One
N. Z. Y. Berlin (1816–1893) • Meir Simha Ha-Kohen of Dvinsk (1843–1926) • Barukh Ha-Levi Epstein (1860–1942)

16 Hoffman and German Orthodoxy
David Hoffman (1843–1921) • Hayyim Hirschenson (1857–1935) • Benno Jacob (1862–1945) and A. S. Yahuda (1877–1951) • Isaac Breuer (1883–1946) • Yehiel Jacob Weinberg (1885–1966) • J. H. Hertz (1872–1946)

Summary of Part III

Part IV New Foundations
Torah from Heaven: The Reconstruction of Belief
17 Non-Orthodox Reconstructions
Moses Mendelssohn (1729–86): Revealed Legislation • S. L. Steinheim (1789– 1866): Empiricist of Revelation • Samuel Holdheim (1806–1860) • Progressive Revelation: Krochmal, Formstecher, Hirsch, Cohen • Leo Baeck (1873–1956) • Martin Buber (1878–1965) • Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929) • A. J. Heschel (1907–1972) • Emmanuel Levinas (1905/6-1995) • Review

18 Joseph Dov Soloveitchik and the a priori Torah
The Hermeneutics of ‘Torah’ • Historical Criticism • The Oral Torah Problem • Conclusion

19 Feminist Critiques
The Sinai Covenant • Language and Gender • Images of God • Equality before the Law • The Need for Change

20 Four Defences of Traditional Belief
Halivni: The Maculate Torah • Jacobs: Liberal Supernaturalism • Kellner: Rejection of the Dogmatic Approach • Ross: Cumulative Revelation • Strengths of the Four Approaches

21 Divided by a Common Scripture
The Reform Torah • The Orthodox Torah • The Conservative Torah • Go Compare Denominations

Summary of Part IV

Part V Torah from Heaven
22 Options
Justifications • The Community: Costs and Benefits of Belief • The Individual: Costs and Benefits of Belief

23 What Is Truth?
What Is Truth? • Excursus: Consistency and ‘Double Truth’ • In What Sense Is ‘Torah from Heaven’ True? • On ‘Narrative Theology’ • Conclusion. ‘Torah from Heaven’: A Myth of Origin

24 Myth of Origin: Opportunities and Dangers
What ‘Torah from Heaven’ May Signify • History and Myth Do Not Conflict • ‘Torah from Heaven’: Uses and Abuses • Benefits of Understanding ‘Torah from Heaven’ as Mythos Rather than Logos • Dangers from Understanding ‘Torah from Heaven’ as Logos Rather than Mythos • Things That Worry People

25 Demography versus Reason: The Future of Jewish Religion
Does Reason Matter? • ‘Authentic Judaism’ • Survival of the Fittest • Conclusion

26 Confronting Change
A Meditation at the Mountains of Fire (January 2004) • Coming to Terms with Modernity • Intellectual Violence • Who Decides? • What I Have Dealt With • What I Have Not Dealt With

Bibliography
Index

‘Solomon intends that his book appeal to both popular and academic readership, a task he rather successfully fulfils. His literary style is characterized by the art f brevity . . . Footnotes are concise and not burdened with endless bibliographic citations. For the interested reader, references throughout the book lead to further reading . . . Theologians will benefit from a plentitude of thought-provoking critique and insight. It is for these reasons that I recommend the book . . . interesting and successful in giving a broad historical perspective as well as provoking thought.’
Dan Baras, Academia.edu

‘An excellent resource for researching Jewish intellectual discussion about the Bible.’
Zvi Grumet, Bookjed

‘A courageous new book . . . has an impressive range, from scholarship about biblical times to twenty-first century theology and almost all periods in between . . . despite all the detail in the book, it is very readable and comprehensible even for the beginner. It should be required reading for any modern woman or man who thinks seriously about Jewish theology in general and the question of Torah from heaven in particular.’
Martin Lockshin, Canadian Jewish News

‘An important book for anyone grappling with traditional Judaism . . . stands with Marc Shapiro’s The Limits of Orthodox Theology as a seminal work that delves into the richness of our heritage to show that there is more than one way of looking at core religious ideas . . . This book gives us a history of the issues and how different thinkers over the centuries have dealt with the challenges of the Torah. It is a major contribution.‘
Jeremy Rosen’s blog

‘Judicious and erudite.’
Lawrence Grossman, Jerusalem Post

‘A scholarly book, it is not written in a difficult style. And for a hardback of this print quality at under £25.00 it is a bargain. On one level, it is an invaluable sourcebook on what he calls the “central doctrine” of Judaism.’
Simon Rocker, Jewish Chronicle

‘In this refreshingly fair, sophisticated, and engaging analysis of the doctrine of “Torah from Heaven” (the Jewish belief in the inerrancy and divinity of scripture), Solomon surveys the history of Jewish biblical interpretation, and concludes that every prior conception of this doctrine is lacking in either intellectual honesty or in its capacity to foster religious conviction. [He] concludes that the only religiously meaningful and intellectually coherent conception of this notion is that of myth . . . can be read by members of any religion whose faith in scripture is challenged by modern archaeological, literary, and scientific evidence . . . The book is sorely needed in Orthodox circles; it should be required reading for all Jewish seminary students, and is highly recommended for any religious individual seeking to establish intellectually stable grounds for belief in the sanctity of scripture.’
Daniel Goodman, Religious Studies Review