PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Yonatan Y. Brafman is Assistant Professor of Modern Judaism in the Department of Religion and Program in Judaic Studies at Tufts University. He is a scholar of Jewish thought and a philosopher of religion whose work focuses on Jewish law in the context of contemporary moral, legal, and political philosophy. He has held fellowships at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, New York University Law School, and Cardozo School of Law. He holds a PhD in Philosophy of Religion and Jewish Thought from Columbia University.
'Religious reasons' are commonly treated as a distinctive kind of reason, marked off as an autonomous domain and protected from reflective analysis. Brafman's Critique of Halakhic Reason powerfully refutes this account. In dialogue with contemporary moral and legal philosophy, Brafman uncovers the diverse array of reasons for the commandments that are given within Jewish law and philosophy. Developing a constructivist theory of practical reason, Brafman shows how reasons must be given even for divine authority. Morality derives from the justified claims persons-divine or human-make on each other. Rich with implications for theology, philosophy of religion, ethics, and political philosophy, The Critique of Halakhic Reason is a signal contribution. * Jennifer Herdt, Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics at Yale University Divinity School * Every so often a book comes along that promises to challenge, deepen, and transform our ways of understanding Judaism. Brafman's rich and exciting work on reasoning and normativity in Jewish law is such a book. It is at once an illuminating and powerful critique of the conceptions of legal reasoning in the work of Berkovits, Leibowitz, and Soloveitchik and a novel and compelling new account of rationality and authority in the Halakhah, informed by recent developments in moral and legal philosophy. In this book Brafman guides us into an exciting new engagement between contemporary philosophy and Jewish thought. * Michael L. Morgan, Chancellor's Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Jewish Studies at Indiana University * In this deep and thoughtful book, Brafman deploys subtle analysis of philosophical sources since Kant to explore and critique influential modern Jewish accounts of the reasons why God's commandments must be observed. To this he adds his own original view, one that reconciles constructivism with theistic belief. The result is a major contribution to contemporary Jewish thought and to rational religion. The Critique of Halakhic Reason should be required reading for anyone who takes both halakhah and philosophy seriously and wants to bring them into dialogue. * Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and Chair, Society of Fellows at Harvard University *
Genius and Anxiety
How Jews Changed the World, 1847–1947...
Paperback
$22.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Discovering the City of Sodom
The Fascinating, True Account of...
Paperback
$53.95
Not in-store but you can order this
