God in search of man; a philosophy of Judaism

Content: I. God --
1. Self-understanding of Judaism --
to recover the questions --
philosophy and theology --
situational thinking --
radical self-understanding --
depth-theology --
the self-understanding of religion --
critical reassessment --
intellectual honesty --
philosophy as a perspective --
elliptic thinking --
religion of philosophy --
a way of thinking --
metaphysics and meta-history --
a challenge to philosophy --
the worship of reason --
ideas and events --
the philosophy of Judaism --
2. Ways to his presence --
the Bible is absent --
memory and insight --
man's quest for God --
"seek ye my face" --
three ways --
3. The sublime --
the grand premise --
power, beauty, grandeur --
the distrust of faith --
on the sublime in the Bible --
the beautiful and the sublime --
the sublime is not the ultimate --
horror and exaltation --
4. Wonder --
a legacy of wonder --
a tiny screw --
two kinds of wonder --
"stank still and consider" --
"for thy continual marvels" --
he alone knows --
5. The sense of mystery --
"far off and deep" --
in awe and amazement --
"where shall wisdom be found?" --
two kinds of ignorance --
we apprehend and cannot comprehend --
"hidden are the things that we see" --
6. The enigma is not solved --
God dwells "in deep darkness" --
a loaf of bread --
the ineffable name --
the mystery is not God --
beyond the mystery is mercy --
three attitudes --
God is not eternally silent --
7. Awe --
"as the great abyss" --
the beginning of wisdom is awe --
the meaning of awe --
awe and fear --
awe precedes faith --
return to reverence --
8. Glory --
the glory is the ineffable --
the glory is not a thing --
the glory is the presence of God --
the living presence --
the knowledge of the glory --
blindness to the wonder --
hardness of heart --
9. The world --
the worship of nature --
the disillusionment --
the desanctification of nature --
what is given is not the ultimate --
the contingency of nature --
the fallacy of isolation --
nature in adoration of God --
a thing through God --
the question of amazement --
10. A question addressed to us --
metaphysical loneliness --
not a scientific problem --
beyond definitions --
the principle of incompatibility --
the dimension of the ineffable --
the awareness of transcendent meaning --
the sense of wonder in insufficient --
the argument from design --
religion begins with wonder and mystery --
a question addressed to us --
"a palace full of light" --
what to do with wonder --
11. An ontological presupposition --
moments of insight --
the encounter with the unknown --
preconceptual thinking --
religion is the response to the mystery --
to rise above our wisdom --
ultimate concern is an act of worship --
we praise before we prove --
an ontological presupposition --
the disparity of experience and expression 12. About the meaning of God --
the minimum of meaning --
two corollaries --
God's part in human insight --
the role of time --
the religious situation --
moments --
an answer in disguise --
13. God in search of man --
"where art thou?" --
faith is an event --
a flash in the darkness --
return to God is an answer to Him --
a spiritual event --
14. Insight --
hear, o Israel --
the initiative of man --
"the eye of the heart" --
"doors for the soul" --
15. Faith --
"canst thou by searching find out God?" --
no faith at first sight --
faith is attachment --
the embarrassment of faith --
faith includes faithfulness --
16. Beyond insight --
within the reach of conscience --
God is the subject --
adverbs --
oneness is the standard --
from insight to action --
only insights and nothing else? --
II. Revelation --
17. The idea of revelation --
man with Torah --
why study the problem? --
we forgot the question --
the dogma of man's self-sufficiency --
the idea of man's unworthiness --
the distance between God and man --
the dogma of God's total silence --
the personal analogy --
18. The prophetic understatement --
the idea, the claim, the result --
what is prophetic inspiration? --
words have many meanings --
the prophetic understatement --
the language of grandeur and mystery --
descriptive and indicative words --
responsive interpretation 19. The mystery of revelation --
revelation and the experience or revelation --
the mystery of revelation --
the negative theology of revelation --
to imagine is to pervert --
the elimination of anthropomorphism --
like no other event --
20. The paradox of Sinai --
the paradox of prophecy --
in deep darkness --
beyond the mystery --
the two aspects --
was Sinai an illusion? --
a way of thinking an ecstasy of God --
21. A religion of time --
thought and time --
the God of Abraham --
the category of uniqueness --
the chosen day --
the uniqueness of history --
escape to the timeless --
seeds of eternity --
immune to despair --
evolution and revelation --
22. Process and event --
process and event --
to see the past in the present tense --
23. Israel's commitment --
attachment to events --
the memory of a commitment --
loyalty to a moment --
a word of honor --
life without commitment --
revelation is a beginning --
24. An examination of the prophets --
what sort of proof? --
the mistaken notion --
is revelation explainable? --
are the prophets reliable? --
a product of insanity --
self-delusion --
a pedagogical invention --
confusion --
the spirit of the age --
the subconscious --
there are no proofs --
25. The Bible and the world --
Is the Bible an illusion? --
is God absent everywhere? --
the place of the Bible in the world --
what the Bible did --
no words more knowing --
the singularity of the Bible --
how to account for it --
the omnipotence of the Bible --
precious to God --
holiness in words --
Israel as evidence --
how to share the certainty of Israel --
not because of proof 26. Faith with the prophets --
faith with the prophets --
origin and presence --
the frontier of the spirit --
not a book --
"cast me not away" --
27. The principle of revelation --
revelation is not a chronological issue --
the text as it is --
revelation is not a monologue --
the voice according to man --
wisdom, prophecy, and God --
the unrevealed Torah --
the Torah is in exile --
idea and expression --
commonplace passages --
harsh passages --
the Bible is not a utopia --
continuous understanding --
the oral Torah was never written down --
III. Response --
28. A science of deeds --
the supreme acquiescence --
a leap of action --
the deed is the risk --
our ultimate embarrassment --
a meta-ethical approach --
the partnership of God and man --
ways, not laws --
the divinity of deeds --
to do what he is --
likeness in deeds --
"the good drive" --
ends in need of man --
a science of deeds --
29. More than inwardness --
by faith alone? --
the error or formalism --
no dichotomy --
spirituality is not the way --
autonomy and heteronomy --
the law --
a spiritual order --
a theological exaggeration --
30. The art of being --
only deeds and nothing else? --
a cry for creativity --
God asks for the heart --
why Kavanah? --
to do in order to be --
the immanence of God in deeds --
to be present --
31. Kavanah --
attentiveness --
appreciation --
integration --
beyond Kavanah 32. Religious behaviorism --
religious behaviorism --
Spinoza and Mendelssohn --
Judaism and legalism --
the fundamental importance of agada --
Torah is more than law --
beyond Halacha --
Pan-halachism --
a religion without faith --
dogmas are not enough --
the four cubits --
33. The problem of polarity --
Halacha and Agada --
quantity and quality --
Halacha without Agada --
Agada without Halacha --
the polarity of Judaism --
the tension between Halacha and Agada --
regularity and spontaneity --
the value of habit --
actions teach --
34. The meaning of observance --
origin and presence --
the meaning of observance --
eternity, not utility --
spiritual meaning --
an answer to the mystery --
adventures of the soul --
"a song every day" --
reminders --
action as reunion --
attachment to the holy --
the ecstasy of deeds --
35. Mitsvah and sin --
the meaning of mitzvah --
"for we have sinned" --
"the evil drive" --
"there is but one step" --
36. The problem of evil --
a palace in flames --
"into the hands of the wicked" --
the confusion of good and evil --
the atonement for the holy --
religion is not a luxury --
a supreme distinction --
how to find an ally --
the Torah is an antidote --
is the good a parasite? --
evil is not the ultimate problem --
God and man have a task in common --
the ability to fulfill --
in need of redemption 37. The problem of the neutral --
the isolation of morality --
how to deal with the neutral --
all joy comes from God --
38. The problem of integrity --
vested interests --
alien thoughts --
the escape to suspicion --
the test of Job --
"a diadem with which to boast" --
disgusted polytheism --
the failure of the heart --
39. The self and the non-self --
is desire the measure of all things? --
the conversation of needs --
self-effacement --
regard for the self --
40. The deed redeems --
awareness of inner enslavement --
moments of purity --
contrition --
God is full of compassion --
ends purify motives --
the deed redeems --
"serve him with joy" --
"we spoil and he restores" --
41. Freedom --
the problem of freedom --
freedom is an event --
freedom and creation --
divine concern --
42. The spirit of Judaism --
the meaning of spirit --
the spirit of Judaism --
the art of surpassing civilization --
43. The people Israel --
the meaning of Jewish existence --
thinking compatible with our destiny --
Israel --
a spiritual order --
the dignity of Israel.