Toward a Negative Theology of Judaism

""This brilliant book is about Jewish negative theology. Nothing in Judaism is as it seems: creation is not providential, revelation is not legislative, redemption is not an obvious end of history, God is not personal. The philosophical work of negation rejects the kataphatic message and its simple assertions, but it does not leave us empty-handed. Rubinstein travels the via negativa with his favorite Jewish thinkers, from Ecclesiastes to Levinas, to prove that philosophical Judaism continues to be a vibrant 'live option.'"" --Agata Bielik-Robson, Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Nottingham ""Toward a Negative Theology of Judaism is a sensitive exploration of one of the enduring modes of thinking that has informed Jewish theology and philosophy. Rubinstein deftly points out that the denial of attributing positive characteristics to God opens the way to an alternative form of disclosure of the very being whose nature is beyond our language and comprehension. We are indebted to Rubinstein for gifting us with an aesthetically beautiful exploration of one of the profoundest ways of speaking about God--a speaking that is concurrently a form of not speaking--as the God of whom we speak is decidedly unspeakable. But this is more than a manner of speaking because it is, above all else, a vehicle for encountering and thereby recovering God, a recovery that allows for God's absence of God to serve as the means to attain the divine presence, sometimes hiding in plain sight."" --Elliot R. Wolfson, Marsha and Jay Glazer Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara