A God We Can Believe In

Richard Agler, Rifat Sonsino

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781666793376
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Do you believe in God?So many people answer this question in the negative because the God they have been taught to believe in is simply not all that believable.In the twenty-first century, a Deity who intervenes in history, supernaturally responds to prayers, favors and protects his faithful and chosen, and executes righteous judgment engenders doubt and disbelief in thinking people of all faiths, as well as those of no practicing faith.A God We Can Believe In is a response to this moment. Herein you will find contributions from leading rabbis and scholars that articulate paths to heart, mind, and soul with God-teachings that are spiritually compelling and intellectually sound. Our authors present God in ways that are consistent with the facts that higher learning has established, the principles of reason, and our shared life experiences.In these pages you will find a God that cannot be brushed aside by educated moderns; a God that does not violate the realities of logic or natural law; a God presented in accessible language; a God that can be lived with and lived for. It is a book for thoughtful individuals everywhere.

PART I

A BELIEVABLE GOD

God as the Energy of the Universe

—Rabbi Rifat Sonsino

Our Knowledge, Ourselves

For centuries, philosophers have been trying to find out how we know what we know. They have developed a series of theories to explain this puzzle, none of which answers all of our questions completely. I agree with the empiricists who posit that we know what we experience. However, limited human beings as we are, complete knowledge is beyond our comprehension or ability to grasp, collect, and record. The realization that our knowledge is limited has led me to concentrate on concepts and values in historical and religious texts that are open to interpretation. Now, these are things we can argue about!

When I wake up in the morning and realize that I am alive in a world operating in a reliable yet mysterious way, I express gratitude to God that has made me part of it. Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel (d. 1972) wrote, “Wonder or radical amazement is the chief characteristic of the religious man’s attitude toward history and nature.”1 The awareness that the universe has an intricate composition has led many, including me, to revere life. Not only am I in awe of the workings of the world, but I am equally struck by the way our bodies operate harmoniously most of the time. I view human beings as bulks of energies stimulated by forces within and without. How does the heart know to beat regularly? How does our digestive system work so properly? The ancient rabbis, noting this wonder, even penned a prayer to be said upon waking up in the morning: “Blessed are You, God, Creator of the universe, who has formed the human body in wisdom, and has created in it intricate passages, vessels, and openings. It is clear to You that if one of them is blocked or opened, we could not stand before You. Blessed are You, God, who heals all flesh in a wondrous way.”2

The Word “Religion”

What does the word “religion” mean? Some people derive it from the Latin relegare, meaning, to re-examine carefully. Others trace it from religare, which means to connect (with God). Even though the second is the most popular understanding of the word today, it is still vague. What does it mean to connect with God? The Hebrew language does not even have a dedicated word for “religion.” In medieval times, we find the word dat—דת, which can mean law, custom, or faith. In modern Hebrew, a dati—דתי is a religiously observant person.

Of the various definitions of religion, I believe, Erich Fromm (d. 1980) provided the broadest one. He argued that religion gives the individual a “frame of orientation” as well as “an object of devotion.”3 Each of us has a frame of orientation through which we view the world and an object of devotion to which we pledge ultimate loyalty. I like that approach.

For me, religion needs to be defined broadly as a way to help us find our place in the world, with all of its limitations and possibilities. I agree with Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn (d. 1995), who defined it as “the study of the mutual spiritual relations between human organisms and their total environment.”4 As academic Dan Solomon states, “my religion is grounded in my understanding and experience of nature.”5 In this sense, I consider everyone religious because we all have the same concerns and expectations. Whether we are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or other, the way that we respond to our personal existential questions becomes our religion. I think Judaism provides a sound interpretation of human life, and that is why, in addition to being part of the Jewish people, I choose to remain a religious Jew.

The term religion is much broader than observance. Observance deals with practices, religion refers to one’s attitude to life in general. Also, even though most religious people are moral individuals, religion and morality are not one and the same. Many people claim to be religious while engaging in unethical behavior.

Religious Naturalism

Modern religious naturalism is a philosophical perspective that in general rejects the reality of the supernatural realm and finds religious meaning in the natural world. For most religious naturalists, our physical world is the center of our most significant experiences and understanding as discovered through scientific research. As humans are interconnected with one another, they all share a sense of reverence and awe toward the universe.

In the past, this view was promoted by people like Benedict Spinoza, Albert Einstein, George Santayana, and Samuel Alexander as well as Rabbis Mordecai Kaplan and Sherwin Wine. Stephen Hawking can be added as a modern proponent of this perspective.

God As The Energy Of The Universe

One can conceive of God in a variety of ways. Historically speaking, the two major approaches are theism and non-theism. Most classical theists believe that:

a) God is one and alone.

b) God, though not possessing a body, is a spiritual being who expresses will, love, and concern for the created universe.

c) God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good.

d) God is supernatural and trans-natural.

e) God knows us, hears our prayers, and answers them.

f) God rewards the faithful and punishes the wicked.

The existence of such a God is often argued in four different ways:

a) ontologically, namely, deriving God’s existence from the idea of God;

b) teleologically, that is, deriving God’s existence from the observed order of the universe, i.e., if there is an order, there must be an ordering mind;

c) cosmologically, deriving God’s existence from the idea that God started motion without being moved;

d) using the moral argument that points to God as the source of all moral decisions.

One of the greatest obstacles to a theistically conceived God is the problem of good and evil. For if God is omnipotent and all-good, how does one explain, for example, the Holocaust? Is it because God could not impede the tragedy? That would make God less than all-powerful. Or, is it because God did not want to? That would make God less than loving and caring. It certainly cannot be that the Jews and others who died during this tragedy deserved their punishment! Nothing can justify this type of torture and mayhem. There must be another way to view God.

Jewish sages have promoted a variety of God concepts. There is Isaac Luria’s mysticism (sixteenth century), Baruch Spinoza’s pantheism (seventeenth century), Erich Fromm’s humanism (twentieth century), and many others. I am more attracted to the views of the religious naturalists who consider God not as a “person” who relates to the universe as an Almighty human-like being, but more of a non-personal Mind or Energy that stands at the center of our existence. Thus, for example, Mordecai Kaplan (d. 1983) believed that God is the Power that makes for salvation and Roland Gittelsohn argued that God is the creative spiritual Seed of the universe. I maintain that many Jewish adults, young ones in particular, find this approach more appealing.

Based on observation and analysis, I see a certain order in the world around us and conclude that this implies the existence of an ordering Mind or an ordering power and energy that stands for God. I concur with Stephen Hawking who defines God as “the embodiment of the laws of nature,”6 the manifestation of a universal energy that makes my existence possible. For this, I am very appreciative, and express my thanks to God through prayers of gratitude and works of loving-kindness that benefit my family and community. I affirm the freedom of the human will and live with the realization that I do not have all the answers for the tension that exists between good and evil, because I do not fully know all the inner workings of the universe. In the spirit of Spinoza, I also say that if we knew how the world operates, we could predict our next move. But alas, this is not within our ability. So, we live in an imperfect world and with limited abilities to understand the mysteries around us, while desperately looking for meaning and purpose in our daily struggles.

What Prayer Accomplishes

Of the three major types of prayer (praise, gratitude, and petition), the prayers of petition create problems for many people. The reasons vary: we may expect an immediate answer that fails to materialize; the text of the prayer may be disconcerting because of its archaic nature, patriarchal language, or non-inclusive character; we may confuse nobility of expression wit...