Yehezkel Kaufmann, The Religion of Israel: From Its Beginning to the Babylonian Exile

Translated and abridged by Mosehe Greenberg (1928-2010).

The University of Chicago Press, 1963, 451 pgs.

Summary: Yehezkel Kaufmann (1889-1963) was an Israeli philosopher and biblical scholar. The majority of his publications were in modern Hebrew and remain untranslated.

Kaufmann sets out and as far as I am able to discern succeeds in creating a completely secular and academic framework for the uniqueness of the Jewish conception of the relationship of the divine with creation over and against the pagan religions. The Deity of the Jews is not contingent on nature or any process unlike all other known examples.

He may provide the most powerful possible academically palatable argument for the uniqueness of a worldview springing from such a conception of deity.

Benefits/Detriments: The book is not at all Christian nor does it have a high view of the inspiration of the preserved and existing text. Kaufmann’s personal convictions as to the existence of the God described by Moses alludes me. 

The above review is essentially a place holder for a longer and more exhaustive review in the future.