Book Birthdays celebrate one year of a book’s life in tweets, reviews, ratings, and more! Today we’re saying Happy First Birthday to Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible by Kenneth Seeskin (Jewish Publication Society, 2016). Kenneth Seeskin is Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University.
About the book:
The Bible is an enduring source of inspiration for the human heart and mind, and readers of Thinking about the Torah will be rewarded with an enhanced understanding of this great work’s deeper meanings. Drawing on Western philosophy and particularly Jewish philosophy, Kenneth Seeskin delves into ten core biblical verses and the powerful ideas that emerge from them. He speaks to readers on every page and invites conversation about topics central to human existence: how finite beings can relate to the infinite, what love is, the role of ethics in religion, and the meaning of holiness.
Reviews:
“Seeskin writes beautifully. He is a master teacher, and hence his book has a directness and simplicity about it that is captivating, and even stunning at times.”—Michael L. Morgan, coeditor of The Cambridge Companion to Modern Jewish Philosophy
“The challenge is to bridge the conceptual chasm between our world and the world of the Bible while respecting the integrity of that world, often so far removed from our own. Few in our generation have proved such able architects of that bridge as has Seeskin over a lifetime of writings.” —Israel Book Review
“Kenneth Seeskin is right to call for a heightened degree of reflection about Judaism, and for more ‘thinking about the Torah,’ and for doing so he deserves our gratitude.” —Mosaic
“Seeskin gives us a new understanding of the deeper meanings that we find in the Hebrew Bible and he does so by drawing on Western philosophy and Jewish philosophy. Seeskin speaks to us on every page and invites us to join his conversation. He raises questions that we all ask and answers them with curiosity and compassion.” —Reviews by Amos Lassen
Author articles and mentions:
- Mosaic (October 13, 2016)
- Publishers Weekly (October 26, 2016)
- Mosaic (February 16, 2017)
On the blog:
- From the Desk of Kenneth Seeskin
- Reading List: Jewish Books for the New Year
- Excerpt: Thinking About the Torah
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