Neil Gillman, rabbi and PhD, is professor of Jewish philosophy at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he has served as chair of the Department of Jewish Philosophy and dean of the Rabbinical School. He is author of Believing and Its Tensions: A Personal Conversation about God, Torah, Suffering and Death in Jewish Thought; The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and a Publishers Weekly "Best Book of the Year"; The Way Into Encountering God in Judaism; The Jewish Approach to God: A Brief Introduction for Christians; Traces of God: Seeing God in Torah, History and Everyday Life (all Jewish Lights) and Sacred Fragments: Recovering Theology for the Modern Jew, winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

Introduction: My Theological Journey ix

Part One: God
1. I Believe 3
2. On Knowing God 7
3. The Dynamics of Prophecy in the Writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel 16
4. Creation in the Bible and in the Liturgy 32
5. How Will It All End? Eschatology in Science and Religion 53
6. Beyond Wissenschaft: The Resurrection
of Resurrection in Jewish Thought since 1950 68

Part Two: Torah
7. The Jewish Philosopher in Search of a Role 89
8. Authority and Parameters in Jewish Decision Making 105
9. On the Religious Education of American Rabbis 114
10. Teaching the Akedah 136

Part Three: Israel
11. Judaism and the Search for Spirituality 149
12. A Conservative Theology for the Twenty-first Century 170
13. A New Aggadah for the Conservative Movement 187
14. Rituals, Myths, and Communities 207
15. Coping with Chaos: Jewish Theological and Ritual Resources 224
16. In Praise of Birkat Kohanim 242

Notes 247
Glossary 269
Credits 274
Index 276

With clarity and passion, noted theologian Neil Gillman explores the importance of community, symbol and myth in evolution of Jewish thought and reveals extraordinary insights into the purpose of religion, our relationship with God and Jewish identity.