December 1996
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30 Reads
Religious Studies
Argument is the very life-blood of philosophy and, hence, prima facie one might expect that distinctive phenomenon of the Jewish religious tradition, ‘holy argument’, to be of special interest to philosophers, particularly philosophers of religion. However, there is little to suggest that those engaged in the philosophical approach to religion are even aware that such a phenomenon as a piety of argument exists. But it does. In the philosophical field rational argument conducted according to the established rules of logic is the fundamental tool in the pursuit of truth and understanding or for the clarification of problems, ideas and concepts; in Judaism, rational, legal argument pursued according to recognized principles and processes is the most highly commended path to encounter and engagement with God. Moreover, within this same religious tradition, ‘holy argument’ embraces not only argument about God, about His nature (theology), His ways (theodicy) and His will (halakhah), but also argument with God, putting God on trial and taking Him to task as One who is Himself bound and judged by that same Torah that Israel is obligated to obey. The high value placed upon study and the exercise of the intellect in the Jewish tradition is well known; it is not only a mitzvah and an act of worship but a form of imitatio Dei, for God Himself engages in the study of Torah. But the mode of study in Judaism and the form in which the intellect is exercised is characteristically that of argument and debate, the quintessential activity of philosophy and philosophers.