A strategy for reading Heschel’s major works, as well as a new route to understanding religious writing in general: a lucid study of modern religious and ethical thought using literary criticism.
Holiness in Words: Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Poetics of Piety is both an introduction to reading Heschel’s works in English, and an in-depth study of the way his literary style can transform the consciousness of readers. Heschel’s life and works respond to the contemporary crisis in religion, formulating positions on faith and despair, racism and social justice, the Holocaust, interreligious dialogue, and the availability of God’s presence. We study Heschel’s theory and use of literary language, his ‘poetics of piety, ‘ in order to elucidate his narrative strategy to teach God-centered (or prophetic) thinking.
The book traces the major themes of his ‘depth theology, ‘ awe and radical amazement, the meaning of symbol, ritual, prayer, and mystical insight. Historical and biographical information clarifies Heschel’s implicit polemic with Martin Buber and a supplemental study guide provides sources for each chapter and suggestions for further thought and discussion.
Table of Content
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Michael Fishbane
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
I ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL IN AMERICA
Theologian, Zaddik, Prophetic Voice
Writer and Teacher
‘A Brand Plucked from the Fire’
Rescuing the Jewish Soul
A Zaddik for the 1950s
II A READING STRATEGY
Empathy with Critical Awareness
How to Read Heschel
The First Steps: Close Reading
A Divine Perspective
Prophetic Call
Literary and Theological Insight
Reading toward Community
III THE DIVINE PERSPECTIVE
Learning to Think Religiously
The Dynamics of Theocentric Thinking
A Spiritual Itinerary
The Endless Tension
IV LANGUAGE AND REALITY
Toward a Poetics of Faith
Against Fundamentalisms
The Limits of Language
Windows to the Spirit
The Perspective of the Faithless
The Structure of Biblical Metaphor
Three Dimensions of Human Fullness
V MYSTICISM AND DESPAIR
The Threshold of Revelation
Out of the Darkness
Recasting Mental Habits
Mystical Illumination
The Life of Piety
Resistance to Faith
VI SACRED VERSUS SYMBOLIC RELIGION
Social Science or God’s Will?
Spirit versus Symbol
Law and Inwardness
Buber’s Atheistic Theology?
Poetics and Observance
Becoming God’s Symbol
VII PROPHETIC RADICALISM
Sacred Humanism and Social Action
Prophecy in the New World
Reverence for the Divine Image
Prophetic Ethics versus Expediency
Prayer and Political Courage
God as Touchstone
VIII CONFRONTING THE HOLOCAUST
God in Exile
‘The Mountain of History’
Writing and Unspeakable Evil
No Post-Holocaust Theology
IX METAPHOR AND MIRACLE
Modern Judaism and the Holy Spirit
The Historicity of Divine Inspiration
Contemporary Judaism and God’s Presence
Toward the Future
X HESCHEL’S UNFINISHED SYMPHONY
Reverence, Dismay, and Exaltation
A Scholarly Goldmine
A Personality for Our Times
Transcendence in Disguise
Interfaith Activism
Appendix A: Study Guide
Appendix B: Heschel in Germany
Notes
Annotated Bibliography in English
Index
About the author
Edward K. Kaplan is Professor of French and Comparative Literature and Research Associate at the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis University. In addition to books on the French writers Jules Michelet and Charles Baudelaire, he has published extensively on Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thomas Merton, and Howard Thurman.
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