God in Search of Man : A Philosophy of Judaism

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 437 pages
• Published by: Farrar, Straus and Giroux June 1, 1976
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0374513317
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0374513313
• Book Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Weighs: 13.6 ounces

Product Review
God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism is among Abraham Joshua Heschel's most comprehensive studies of the Jewish religion. It is a work of impeccable scholarship conveyed with absolute clarity, in a spirit of utmost reverence and compassion. "Religion is an answer to man's ultimate questions," Heschel declares on the book's first page. Religion that forgets its roots in humanity's lived experience, religion that inadequately addresses the earthly realities of life, Heschel says, is false religion. And yet, Heschel asserts that religion is not a vehicle by which humanity draws closer to God; it is always God who reaches out to humanity through religion. "Judaism is God's quest for man. The Bible is a record of God's approach to His people. More statements are found in the Bible about God's love for Israel than about Israel's love for God."

God in Search of Man is almost as exhausting as it is exhaustive. Detailed analyses of "Awe," "Wonder," and "Glory" stand alongside discourses on religion and time, the nature of prophesy, and the problem of evil. Heschel's encyclopedic knowledge of and omnivorous interest in the nature of Judaism is, for most readers, more productively taken in small doses than swallowed whole. The book's table of contents, however, will get a considerable workout over the years, as readers return again and again to find Heschel's opinions about various aspects of spiritual life. --Michael Joseph Gross

Product Review
"One of the most compelling books about being human that has been written in this century." --The Boston Globe

"Prose that sings and soars in the warm, intuitive tradition of the great 18th-century Hasidic leaders from whom [Heschel] is descended . . . God in Search of Man is subtitled 'A Philosophy of Judaism,' but it speaks to all those for whom the Bible is a holy book." --Time
-- Review

Reader Reviews
Heschel is simply amazing. It was not until his 40's that he learned English. His precision of writting in English (this is not a translation!) is amoung the best in the world. This book is both a philosophic/logical progression as well as poetic gem. This book changed my life. My father was Jewish, my mother not. When I got to a quote from Exodus (Sh'mot) "This is my God and I will glorify Him; The God of my father and I will exalt Him." I made up my mind to convert from nothing to Judaism. The idea of repair of the world, Tikkun Olam,is well and alive: "It is in the employment of his (a Man's) will, not in reflection, that he meets his own self as it is; not as he should like it to be. Heschel marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and inspired many Jews to fight for the rights all all citizens in the USA. This book is thoughtful, makes one reflect and is filled with poetry from end to end. Examples. "The heart is a often lonely voice in the marketplace of the living." "Halacha (laws) without agada (heart / self transformation) is dead, agada without halacha is wild." As a practicing Scientist I agree with, "God is not a scientifc problem, and scientific methods are not capable of solving it." Great book, super inspriring.