JUDAISM
Christianity
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How is the nature of God understood in the religion?
by Howard Greenstein
Ethical
monotheism is a uniquely Jewish religious concept which affirms
that all existence was created and is governed by a single God.
That deity is also the source and paradigm for moral action. This
idea was a revolutionary development in the history of religions.
Many knowledgeable students of religion maintain that this proposition
is the greatest single contribution of Judaism to the spiritual
heritage of Western civilization.
This
extraordinary understanding of the nature of God rests upon an appreciation
of its three major aspects. The first is the belief that God is
one and not many. The ancient Jewish people, unlike their contemporaries,
did not believe that the world was fragmented under the domain of
several different gods. They posited the existence of only one Supreme
Being who alone accounted for all the diversity in the universe.
This Being was the Creator and Sustainer of all there is. This first
hypothesis implies several corollaries which emphasize the uniqueness
of this concept.
One
entailed a belief that the unity of God encouraged much greater
unity among the people who worshipped such a deity. If people worshipped
many gods, inevitably favorites would emerge among them and factions
would develop; each would promote the supremacy of his/her own choice.
Monotheism theoretically precludes such conflicts. “It shall
come to pass in the latter days,” declares Isaiah, “that
the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the
highest of the mountains…and many peoples shall come and say:
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house
of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us His ways, and that we
may walk in His paths’” (Isa. 2:2-3).
From its earliest beginnings Judaism taught that the unity of humankind
was a corollary of the belief in one God. That is
clearly a distinctive quality of the concept of monotheism.
When
Judaism proclaims that God is one, it means that God is not simply
a numerical unity, but also a qualitative unity. That is the second
major aspect of monotheism in Judaism. God is not only one; God
is unique as the Source and Sustainer of all moral values. God is
not only one unto Himself; God is the only one of His kind in the
universe. There is no other “One” like God. During the
rabbinic period (200 BCE -500 CE), the Roman emperor often enjoyed
the title of “king of kings.” To emphasize the singularity
of God, the rabbinic sages acclaimed God as “the King of the
kings of kings.”
To
hold that God is the Source and Sustainer of moral values is to
insist upon an objective status for ethical ideals. They are not
the impulsive fabrication of human minds, but are grounded in the
very bedrock of creation. Moral laws have
objective validity similar to the laws of physics. They are not
our invention, but it is for us to discover them. Just
as it would be foolish to defy the law of gravity and hope to escape
its consequences, so is it perilous to presume that a human infant
can grow to emotional maturity without ever being loved or cared
for. In both cases the penalty for ignoring the law is a natural
consequence of defying the given realities of the universe. The
uniqueness of God in this context is the complex but delicate blend
of both physical and spiritual reality in a single deity which accounts
for the balance, harmony and order of nature within us and without.
The
uniqueness of God, as Judaism has taught it, includes still a third
aspect which clearly set ancient Israel apart form all other peoples.
Evidence abounds that from earliest times God in Judaism was not
simply the supreme moral authority, but the supreme moral agent
as well.
Because
God limited His range of operations by imposing particular moral
laws, God’s credibility henceforth would rest not only on
legislating truth, but on being identified with truth. God
could not violate either physical or moral laws without seriously
compromising His own integrity.
A biblical
passage that clearly reflects this principle is the conversation
between God and Abraham concerning the impending destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:17-33). God decides to disclose to Abraham
His plans to destroy the two cities because of their flagrant transgressions
of moral decency. Abraham, however, objects to such a decision that
would indiscriminately obliterate the innocent with the guilty,
and calls God to account on the basis of God’s own ethical
standards.
“Wilt
thou indeed,” asks Abraham, “destroy the righteous with
the wicked?” He then proceeds to negotiate with God on behalf
of the innocent. He begins by speculating whether there may be as
few as fifty righteous people in the cities. Would that not be sufficient
to annul the decree? God concedes that Abraham’s argument
is legitimate. He agrees that for the sake of fifty righteous people
the cities will be saved if Abraham can find them. Abraham proceeds
to inquire for the sake of forty, then thirty, twenty, and finally
just ten. In each case God is willing to alter His judgment if the
innocent numbers can be found.
Eventually,
not even ten innocent people can be found, and God proceeds to destroy
the cities. The point, however, is not Abraham’s defeat but
his acknowledged right to challenge God and hold God personally
accountable for the laws God had commanded.
Ethical
monotheism is not just a way of talking about God. It is a way of
understanding human experience; it is a way of organizing the world
in which we live. It is a faith that attempts to explain what we
do not know by beginning with what we do know. We do know our awareness
of this world is rooted in a unity of our own senses. We do know
that defiance of moral law invites a disaster as devastating as
any contempt for the laws of physics or chemistry or biology. We
know, in short, that we cannot fathom it all and that this world
is ultimately grounded in mystery. And that singular ethical mystery
is what we call God.
Copyright
©2006 Howard Greenstein
Howard
R. Greenstein serves as Rabbi of the Jewish congregation
of Marco Island, Florida. He has previously served congregations
in Florida, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Greenstein has been a Lecturer
at the University of Florida, University of North Florida, and Jacksonville
University. He is the author of Judaism:
An Eternal Covenant (1983) and Turning Point: Zionism
and Reform Judaism (1981).
Excerpts
from What Do Our Neighbors Believe?: Questions and Answers on
Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Howard Greenstein, Kendra
Hotz, and John Kaltner are used by permission from Westminster John
Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky. The book will be available for
purchase in December 2006.
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