Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner's Theology of Meaning

"The World Was Created for Me" Studies in Musar Series, Volume 2

Alon Shalev (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

312 Seiten

2025
Brill (Verlag)
9789004513501 (ISBN)

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Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner's Theology of Meaning presents a unique case of Orthodox Jewish existential theology while offering a valuable methodology for studying complex intellectual systems, blending rigorous analysis with historical research to explore Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner’s thought.

Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner's Theology of Meaning explores the profound, enigmatic, and novel thought of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, combining innovative analysis with rigorous textual and historical research. Through a reconstruction of his intellectual biography and the conceptual framework underlying his ideas, this volume generates a hermeneutical key to decipher his writings, revealing their focal points and systematic coherence, and positioning him as a post-existentialist theologian bridging Jewish tradition, modern philosophy, and existential inquiry. The methodology presented offers a valuable model for analyzing complex intellectual systems, making it essential reading for scholars of philosophy, theology, and intellectual history.

Alon Shalev, Ph.D., is a research fellow and faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. His main interests are philosophy and theology of meaning in/of life and political philosophy.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Rabbi Hutner – the Early Years

1.1 Youth 1906–1928

1.2 Years of Wandering: 1928–1934

2 Rabbi Hutner – the Later Years

2.1 First Steps on American Soil – 1934–1938

2.2 The Rosh Yeshiva – 1938–1964

2.3 The Final Years of Wandering: 1964–1980

2.4 Concluding Biographical Remarks

3 Pachad Yitzchak – Historical-Bibliographical Analysis

3.1 On Authoring

3.2 On Esoteric Writing

3.3 On Publication

4 The Intellectual Infrastructure of Pachad Yitzchak

4.1 Teleology I: Anthropocentrism

4.2 Teleology II: Theocentrism

4.3 Dualism

4.4 Eschatology

4.5 Intellectual Infrastructure in Sum: Existence and Significance as the Foundations of Rabbi Hutner’s Thought

5 Existence, Significance, and Singularity – the Core of Pachad Yitzchak

5.1 Authenticity and Meaning

5.2 Yeḥidut: Hutnerian Authenticity

5.3 Ḥashivut: Hutnerian Meaning

5.4 A Theologian Searching for Meaning, with Existentialist Tendencies

6 Torah and Secular Knowledge in Rabbi Hutner’s Thought

6.1 Distinct Domains: Torah and Science

6.2 “Prevention of Supremacy”: Secular Studies

7 Post-existentialist Theology

7.1 Being-towards-Death

7.2 Rabbi Hutner and Futural Projection

7.3 Perpetuality, Eternity, and Truth

7.4 Being-towards-Eternity

8 Rabbi Hutner and His Sources

8.1 Musar

8.2 Hasidism

8.3 Kabbalah

8.4 Hutnerian Religious Naturalism

8.5 Rabbi Hutner the Exegete

9 Conclusion – Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner’s Thought and Legacy

Bibliography

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	13.05.2025
Reihe/Serie	Studies in Musar ; 81/2
Verlagsort	Leiden
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	643 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Judentum
ISBN-13	9789004513501 / 9789004513501
Zustand	Neuware