Papers by Bar Guzi
Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, 2021
This paper seeks to explain the greater appeal of Jewish naturalistic theologies given our greate... more This paper seeks to explain the greater appeal of Jewish naturalistic theologies given our greater appreciation today of the ecological vulnerability of our world by examining the theological writings of two prominent twentieth-century Jewish thinkers-Hans Jonas and Arthur Green. The paper demonstrates that their espousal of naturalistic yet theistic worldview in their interpretations and reconstructions of Jewish tradition shares significant affinities and promotes an ethical attitude toward the environment. First, I show that Jonas and Green reject reductive forms of naturalism and embrace a nonreductive or "expansive" style of naturalism. Then, I argue that their theologies intend to stimulate a sense of responsibility toward all creation by envisioning humans as partners of a non-omnipotent God. I conclude by noting the metaphysical, epistemological, and moral promises of theistic naturalism to Jewish environmental ethics.
מצפה, מדרשת חנתון, גיליון 2, אייר תש״ף, 2020
Zeramim; an Online Journal of Applied Jewish Thought 3, no. 1 (2018): 39-68., 2018
Process theology abandons some of the classical assumptions of theism - such as God’s omnipotenc... more Process theology abandons some of the classical assumptions of theism - such as God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and immutability - and suggests the concept of a limited God. Over the last century, a growing number of Jewish thinkers and theologians, mostly in America, were inspired by process theology and attempted to translate its insights into their Jewish tradition. This paper discusses the ways in which two Jewish thinkers - Hans Jonas and Bradley Shavit Artson - use process theology as they attempt to articulate a response to the problem of evil.
A Greater Zionism: What Can Contemporary Zionism Learn From Mordecai M. Kaplan?
CCAR Journal; a Reform Jewish Quarterly 65, no. 2 (2018): 88-101., 2018
This paper explores Mordecai Kaplan's critique of political or pragmatic Zionism. His critique, I... more This paper explores Mordecai Kaplan's critique of political or pragmatic Zionism. His critique, I argue, can still be relevant to contemporary Zionism as it struggles with the definition of the State of Israel as simultaneously Jewish and democratic, copes with a rise of strident Jewish nationalism, and grapples with issues of religious freedom and pluralism. I suggest that Kaplan’s Zionism offers an alternative perspective to those dominant in Israeli and Zionist circles today.
Winner, 2018 Whizin Prize for Writing on Jewish Ethics.
Torat Ha-Melekh is an extremist tract that deploys halakhic arguments to justify and even promote... more Torat Ha-Melekh is an extremist tract that deploys halakhic arguments to justify and even promote the killing of non-Jews. This essay brings this work and the controversy it unleashed in Israel to English-reading audiences. I argue that It is not sufficient to oppose such violent chauvinism from a halakhic perspective alone; it must be opposed from a universal ethical perspective.
Thesis Chapters by Bar Guzi
Insisting on God: Theistic Naturalism in Twentieth-Century American Jewish Thought
Brandeis University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, 2022
This dissertation discerns a distinct approach to theological thinking shared among three twentie... more This dissertation discerns a distinct approach to theological thinking shared among three twentieth-century Jewish thinkers: Mordecai Kaplan (1881-1983), Hans Jonas (1903-1993), and Arthur Green (born 1941). This approach, which I call theistic naturalism, suggests an alternative to scientific naturalism and supernatural theism. Working within diverse intellectual schools, from pragmatism to phenomenology to mysticism, the three thinkers propose religious worldviews that seek to incorporate the divine into an expansive conception of nature. Their differences notwithstanding, they share a temper and spirit that includes liberal sensibilities, commitment to reason and scientific inquiry, an understanding of religious and moral experiences as authentic sources of knowledge, and an emphasis on divine immanence and on the moral nature and function of Judaism. Their theistic naturalism calls for radical reinterpretations of Jewish tradition, including a rejection of supernatural theism in favor of naturalistic conceptions of God.
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Papers by Bar Guzi
Thesis Chapters by Bar Guzi