Abraham Joshua Heschel Part 4

The following lectures explore the theological worldviews of Rabbis Abraham Joshua Heschel and Joseph Soloveitchik. Beggining with Heschel, Shai Held discusses: a) the meaning of wonder and radical amazement, and their connection to a sense of commandedness; b) Heschel's belief in a personal God and his idea that God is "in search of man"; c) the meaning of prophecy, and how prophets can serve as role models for our own religious lives; d) the problem of evil and how it affected Heschel's relationship with God;and e) the life of prayer, and our attempt to overcome self-centeredness. Then turning to Soloveitchik the lectures focus especially on the idea of the human being as creator, and on how that plays out in a variety of Soloveitchik's writings. The lectures both introduce Heschel and Soloveitchik on their own terms, and introduce a vocabulary for thinking about their own religious commitments and obligations.