Jacob Howland: The Philosopher Who Reads the Talmud

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2019

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”

Oceans of ink have been spilled seeking to answer this question, first posed by the early Church father Tertullian. How do the two intellectual pillars of Western Civilization, Scripture and the philosophical tradition born in ancient Athens, relate to one another? Thinkers like Maimonides sought to reconcile Greek wisdom and Jewish thought. Other thinkers focused on the radically different grounds—reason versus revelation—upon which the insights of each tradition are founded.

Whatever one’s focus, the vital tension between these two modes of thought has produced the most fruitful source of intellectual creativity of our culture. And it’s that vital tension that inspires the work of this podcast’s guest.

In Plato and the Talmud, Professor Jacob Howland demonstrates how the sensibilities he developed through the study of Greek philosophy have shed light on his study of the Talmud. And in a forthcoming essay, Professor Howland will offer a remarkably insightful philosophical reading of the famous Talmudic tale of the “Oven of Akhnai.” In this podcast, he joins Jonathan Silver to explore how, read in a philosophic spirit, this aggadic tale can yield a nuanced and profound political teaching.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble, as well as the original Broadway cast recording of Fiddler on the Roof and "Above the Ocean" by Evan MacDonald.

Transcript

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0:00.0	One of the fathers of the Christian Church, Tertullian, famously asked,
0:12.0	What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?
0:14.0	In response to that rhetorical question, oceans of ink have been spilt, wondering how two of the intellectual pillars of Western civilization,
0:22.2	scripture, and the philosophical tradition, born in ancient Athens, relate to one another.
0:28.5	Some thinkers look at the ethical attributes of the Bible and Greek thought and see similarities,
0:34.6	similar prohibitions against theft and dishonesty and incest and murder. A Jewish leader of
0:40.1	the stature of Maimonides could even bring the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle as an
0:45.3	authority on ethical matters related to character traits. Other thinkers focus on the radically
0:50.3	different ground on which the wisdom of each tradition is founded.
0:54.6	For Greek philosophers believed that human wisdom is achieved through the application of unassisted
1:00.0	human reason, whereas in the book of Ecclesiastes, among other places, the Hebrew Bible
1:05.2	is schetical of unassisted human reason, and instead points to the wisdom of tradition,
1:10.8	as it was first revealed at Mount Sinai
1:12.8	by the creator of the universe. Whether you focus on the disparities or the similarities between these
1:18.6	two traditions, the vital tensions between them have produced the most fruitful source of
1:23.8	intellectual creativity of our culture, and it's the vital tension that inspires the work of today's
1:28.5	guest and today's conversation. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. Today on the
1:34.8	show, we welcome Jacob Howland, the author of several excellent books about Plato and Plato's Republic.
1:41.0	He's written about the Christian philosopher Kierkegaard, but today he brings the
1:45.1	sensibilities he's developed over years of philosophical study to read the Talmud. Back in
1:50.7	2011, Jacob published a book on that subject, Plato and the Talmud, but today we focus on a new
1:55.9	forthcoming essay that amounts to a philosophical reading of one of the most famous agotic tales, the story
	...

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