Introduction 1. Idolatry and Betrayal 2. Idolatry and Representation 3. Idolatry and Myth 4. Idolatry as Error 5. The Wrong God 6. The Ethics of Belief 7. From Idolatrous Belief to Idolatrous Practice 8. Idolatry and Political Authority Conclusion Notes Index
Moshe Halbertal teaches Jewish Thought and Philosophy at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Avishai Margalit is Schulman Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a former George F. Kennan Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
An absorbing and ingenious book.
*Times Literary Supplement*
The outstanding contribution of this book is that it both defines
and helps to solve the difficulties surrounding the notion of
idolatry on the one hand, while using this discussion to shed light
on the multiple developments of the notion throughout our history
on the other.
*Charles Taylor, McGill University*
A remarkably hard-nosed and often profound inquiry into the way
Judaism in particular has constructed its concept of false or
deviant worship… The authors' discussion consistently illumines
familiar texts and ideas with fresh questions and insights drawn
from a variety of contemporary philosophical traditions… [This
book] will stimulate discussion.
*Religious Studies Review*
If hatred were affected by logic, Idolatry would put an end to holy
wars… Together Halbertal and Margalit have created a remarkable
book, which tells us, more thoroughly and persuasively than anyone
has done so far, why and in what ways religions hate one another…
In view of the mass slaughter taking place in the name of religion,
far to much of it glibly and falsely explained by arguments about
'fundamentalism,' this is a very important book.
*New York Review of Books*
This is a very important book, supplying substantially to a crucial
but unrecognized void in scholarship. It is a rare book, joining
philosophic analysis with a mastery of rabbinic texts.
*International Studies in Philosophy*
This is a book of a very high quality, which contributes
substantially to our understanding of a crucial topic in Western
religion, filling thereby a gap in modern scholarship… The
conceptual approach is fostered by detailed textual analyses,
excellent in themselves, which contribute not only to the
understanding of the topic of idolatry, but also to a better
understanding of these texts in themselves, especially those
related to the thought of Maimonides… An outstanding contribution
to the analysis of religion in general, original and audacious.
*Moshe Idel, Hebrew University*
The discussion throughout is of a very high order… The outstanding
contribution of the book is that it both defines and helps to solve
the difficulties surrounding the notion of idolatry on one hand,
while using this discussion to shed light on the multiple
developments of the notion throughout our history on the other.
Philosophical analysis is being used here to good effect to
illuminate an important thread of our religious and cultural
tradition… One great value of the book is thus that it brings
philosophical analysis to bear on the issues of idolatry. Another
important contribution is that it draws on a deep knowledge of the
Talmudic literature and discussions. This makes for a double bonus.
Christian theologians have tended to ignore the Talmud, and so have
those Jewish writers conversant with modern philosophy.
*Charles Taylor, McGill University*
A wonderful book, brilliant and important… It has a kind of
straightforward wisdom, a solid, common sense approach that is both
charming and entirely persuasive. It is a book about pluralism and
intolerance, about the logic and illogic of the arguments that
religions make against one another. This is a fascinating and
critical topic in these dark days of religious warfare.
*Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago Divinity School*
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