Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Sources of Wonder is the first book to demonstrate how Heschel's political, intellectual, and spiritual commitments were embedded in his reading of Jewish tradition.

In this first one-volume English-language full biography of Abraham Joshua Heschel, Edward K. Kaplan tells the engrossing, behind-the-scenes story of the life, philosophy, struggles, yearnings, writings, and activism of one of the twentieth century’s most outstanding Jewish thinkers. Kaplan takes readers on a soulful journey through the rollercoaster challenges and successes of Heschel’s emotional life. As a child he was enveloped in a Hasidic community of Warsaw, then he went on to explore secular Jewish Vilna and cosmopolitan Berlin. He improvised solutions to procure his doctorate in Nazi-dominated Berlin, escaped the Nazis, and secured a rare visa to the United States. He articulated strikingly original interpretations of Jewish ideas. His relationships spanned not only the Jewish denominational spectrum but also Catholic and Protestant faith communities. A militant voice for nonviolent social action, he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. (who became a close friend), expressed strong opposition to the Vietnam War (while the FBI compiled a file on him), and helped reverse long-standing antisemitic Catholic Church doctrine on Jews (participating in a secret meeting with Pope Paul VI during Vatican II). From such prodigiously documented stories Heschel himself emerges—mind, heart, and soul. Kaplan elucidates how Heschel remained forever torn between faith and anguish; between love of God and abhorrence of human apathy, moral weakness, and deliberate evil; between the compassion of the Baal Shem Tov of Medzibozh and the Kotzker rebbe’s cruel demands for truth. “My heart,” Heschel acknowledged, is “in Medzibozh, my mind in Kotzk.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel remains one of the most creative Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century. These essays demonstrate that Heschel became a spiritual guide, not only in America but in many other parts of the world, especially in Poland, where he was born, and in Israel, where the prophets gave the world a dream of everlasting peace.

New in the acclaimed Jewish Lives series: A biography of the rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who became a symbol of the marriage between religion and social justice "Zelizer's book is absolutely riveting, both as a study of a truly important figure within Jewish thought and in providing insight into the politics of the 1960s."--Sandy Levinson, Balkinization "When I marched in Selma, I felt my legs were praying." So said Polish-born American rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) of his involvement in the 1965 Selma civil rights march alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Heschel, who spoke with a fiery moralistic fervor, dedicated his career to the struggle to improve the human condition through faith. In this new biography, author Julian Zelizer tracks Heschel's early years and foundational influences--his childhood in Warsaw and early education in Hasidism, his studies in late 1920s and early 1930s Berlin, and the fortuitous opportunity, which brought him to the United States and saved him from the Holocaust, to teach at Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. This deep and complex portrait places Heschel at the crucial intersection between religion and progressive politics in mid-twentieth-century America. To this day Heschel remains a symbol of the fight to make progressive Jewish values relevant in the secular world.

“Through Heschel, Held’s work reaches out more broadly to treat us to a profound discussion of the great issues in contemporary Jewish theology” (Arthur Green, Hebrew College Rabbinical School). Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) was a prolific scholar, impassioned theologian, and prominent activist who participated in the black civil rights movement and the campaign against the Vietnam War. He has been hailed as a hero, honored as a visionary, and endlessly quoted as a devotional writer. In this sympathetic, yet critical, examination, Shai Held elicits the overarching themes and unity of Heschel’s incisive and insightful thought. Focusing on the idea of transcendence—or the movement from self-centeredness to God-centeredness—Held puts Heschel into dialogue with contemporary Jewish thinkers, Christian theologians, devotional writers, and philosophers of religion. “Shai Held’s book is a master class in one of the most significant Jewish voices of our time.” —Tablet “In this lucid and elegant study, one of the keenest minds in Jewish theology in our time probes the vision of one of the most profound spiritual writers of the twentieth century, uncovering a unity that others have missed and shedding light not only on Heschel but also on the characteristically modern habits of mind that impede the knowledge of God. The book is especially valuable for the connections it draws with other philosophers, theologians, and spiritual writers, Jewish and Christian. Enthusiastically recommended!” —Jon D. Levenson, Harvard University “[A] thoughtful, illuminating new study of Heschel’s thought . . . It is one of the many virtues of Shai Held’s book that it helps us to place Heschel alongside not only Kaplan but Halevi, Horovitz, and Rav Nahman―as well as the Psalmist.” —Jewish Review of Books

Most studies of Abraham Joshua Heschel approach him as a theologian, whereas this book peers behind the theologian and honors Heschel as the original philosopher that he was. So it unearths Heschel's epistemology, his aesthetic, and his social philosophy, all reinforced by the thirty years of friendship and dialogue that Maurice Friedman shared with him. This book raises significantly critical questions concerning Heschel's philosophy of Judaism while remaining greatly appreciative of the sweep and command of his philosophy that Friedman believes were not sufficiently worked through.

The book is devoted to the thought of one of the 20th century's most interesting philosophers of religion. Heschel, a traditional Polish Jew who became a modern thinker, was also an impressive prophet of interreligious dialogue. The book is the fruit of a scholarly conference held in 2007 at the University of Warsaw, in Heschel's native city, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Given the depth and scope of his thinking, the papers gathered in the volume will be of interest not only to philosophers, theologians, and scholars of Heschel, but also to those who know little about Heschel but are interested in the fundamental problems that appear at the borders between philosophy and theology, religion and modernity, Judaism and Christianity, and, more broadly, problems of interfaith relations and their future. Among the contributors to the volume there are many of the foremost Heschel scholars from the United States and Israel, as well as authors from Poland and other European countries. The authors believe that the infl uence of Heschel will continue to grow worldwide.

The COVID-19 era will be remembered not only for the tragic global public health crisis, but also for the continued police violence against persons of color, the courageous activism that continues to rise up to confront racialized violence in all its forms, and the perpetuation of white nationalist rhetoric from the highest government elected offices. Everywhere we look, we find trauma and pain, and we find resilience and resolve. This volume, featuring leading theological scholars and religious leaders, is rich in analysis of the plagues we are facing and equally rich in the resources, practices, and inspirations that will carry our efforts to build a more just world.

Why do people follow a leader, particularly a religious leader? Is it because of personality, or a particular vision or set of values, or perhaps a felt need for direction or authority? And why, given that Americans are still an overwhelmingly religious people, is the clergy declining in influence? Sherwin argues that what is missing is the perception that religious leaders today are capable of working wonders. Sherwin supports his claim by showing that throughout the history of the Jewish people, certain leaders were regarded as having wonder-working ability; this was an essential feature of a "holy person." Sherwin leads the reader through five periods of Jewish history: the era of biblical prophets, Jesus and first-century Israel; Babylonian rabbis of the third and fourth centuries; the east European Hasidic Masters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and twentieth century North African rabbis. In all cases, the moral authority of the leaders came primarily from popular belief in their power to work wonders for the people. Sherwin applies history to the current situation. If the clergy is to be re-empowered, to reclaim leadership and authority as holy people, they must reassert the ability to work wonders. This does not require dramatic miracles, but deeds that might well be perceived by people as nothing short of miraculous: saving a marriage, finding someone a job, finding homes for the homeless, bringing hope to the hopeless. This is a book that every member of the clergy and every religious leader should read, ponder and take to heart.

The Teleological Discourse of Barack Obama, by Richard Leeman, provides an in-depth analysis of President Barack Obamas speeches and writings to explain the power of the 44th presidents speaking. Highly regarded for his eloquent and inspiring rhetoric, Obama is often compared to Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, Leemans study shows that Obamas teleological philosophy and discourse more closely resembles Ronald Reagans rhetoric.