Reason Versus Faith
讗讜爪专 讛诪讚专砖讬诐 (讗讬讬讝谞砖讟讬讬谉) 转诪讜专讛 注诪讜讚 583
讜诪注砖讛 砖讘讗 诪讬谉 讜讗诪专 诇专’ 注拽讬讘讗 讛注讜讛”讝 诪讬 讘专讗讜 讗”诇 讛拽讘”讛, 讗”诇 讛专讗讬谞讬 讚讘专 讘专讜专, 讗”诇 诇诪讞专 转讘讗 讗诇讬, 诇诪讞专 讘讗 讗爪诇讜 讗”诇 诪讛 讗转讛 诇讜讘砖, 讗”诇 讘讙讚, 讗”诇 诪讬 注砖讗讜, 讗”诇 讛讗讜专讙, 讗”诇 讗讬谞讬 诪讗诪讬谞讱 讛专讗讬谞讬 讚讘专 讘专讜专, 讗”诇 讜诪讛 讗专讗讛 诇讱 讜讗讬谉 讗转讛 讬讜讚注 砖讛讗讜专讙 注砖讗讜, 讗”诇 讜讗转讛 讗讬谞讱 讬讜讚注 砖讛拽讘”讛 讘专讗 讗转 注讜诇诪讜, 谞驻讟专 讗讜转讜 讛诪讬谉, 讗诪专讜 诇讜 转诇诪讬讚讬讜 诪讛 讛讚讘专 讘专讜专, 讗”诇 讘谞讬讬 讻砖诐 砖讛讘讬转 诪讜讚讬注 注诇 讛讘谞讗讬 讜讛讘讙讚 诪讜讚讬注 注诇 讛讗讜专讙 讜讛讚诇转 注诇 讛谞讙专, 讻讱 讛注讜诇诐 诪讜讚讬注 注诇 讛拽讘”讛 砖讛讜讗 讘专讗讜.
“God created” (Gen. 1:1) It happened that a heretic came to Rabbi Akiva and asked: “This world鈥攚ho created it?” Rabbi Akiva replied: “The Holy One, blessed be He.” The heretic said, “Show me clear proof.” Rabbi Akiva replied: “Come back to me tomorrow.” The next day, when the heretic came, Rabbi Akiva asked him, “What are you wearing?” The heretic replied, “A garment.” Rabbi Akiva asked, “Who made it?” The heretic: “A weaver.” “I don’t believe you,” said Rabbi Akiva. “Show me proof.” The heretic: “What can I show you? Don’t you know that the weaver made it?” Rabbi Akiva then asked, “And you, do you know that the Holy One made this world?” After the heretic departed, Rabbi Akiva’s disciples asked him, “But what is the clear proof?” He replied: “My children, just as every house proclaims the builder, a garment its weaver, a [door] its carpenter, so does the world proclaim the Holy One, Blessed be He, that He created it.”
If the ancients worried to prove God’s existence, the challenge of Darwinian evolution posed an even greater threat: counterevidence to the biblical account of Creation. In the postmodern era, we Jews-in-the-center find ourselves oddly caught in the middle of a debate portrayed in the news media as between those who insist literally on the biblical account and those who reject it altogether. What the mainstream media misses is the nuance that distinguishes liberal Judaism: our willingness to embrace science and faith, to be intellectually honest and spiritually open.
Rabbi Arthur Green makes a bold claim in his recent theological work Radical Judaism: Rethinking God and Tradition. Opening with the claim that “the evolution of the species is the greatest sacred drama of all time,” he writes:
With regard to “Creation,” I understand the task of the theologian to be one ofreframing, accepting the accounts of origins and natural history offered by the scientific consensus, but helping us to view them in a different way, one that may guide us toward a more profound appreciation of that same reality . . . We would understand the course of evolution, from the simplest life forms millions of years ago, to the great complexity of the human brain (still now only barely understood), and proceeding onward into the unknown future, to be a meaningful process. There is a One that is ever revealing itself to us within and behind the great diversity of life. That One is Being itself, the constant in the endlessly changing evolutionary parade. Viewed from our end of the process, the search that leads to discovery of that One is our human quest for meaning. But turned around, seen from the perspective of the constantly evolving life energy, evolution can be seen as an ongoing process of revelation or self-manifestation. We discover; it reveals. It reveals; we discover. (p. 20)
The reason-versus-faith construct is a false one; as Conservative Jews we should feel intellectually challenged by the former and spiritually inspired by the latter.
