Samuel Lebens: The Line Between Rationality and Mysticism [Rationality 3/5]

18Forty Podcast

18Forty

Religion & Spirituality, Judaism

4.6 • 638 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2021

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Samuel Lebens - philosophy professor and author - about the interaction of Judaism with analytic philosophy and mysticism.

Samuel is an analytic philosopher, trained to analyze philosophical questions in a precise, almost mathematical framework. In his new book, The Principles of Judaism, he attempts to wed the foundations of Judaism to this framework, discussing the ways that one might formalize their Judaism on rational grounds.

- How can one ground their Judaism in precise, rational terms?
- How certain can one be of their Judaism?
- What is the place of mysticism in a rational framework?

Tune in to hear a conversation about Judaism and analytic philosophy.

For more, visit https://18forty.org/rational/.

References:
The Principles of Judaism by Samuel Lebens https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Judaism-Studies-Analytic-Theology/dp/0198843259
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Ludwig-Wittgenstein/dp/0486404455/ref=pd_lpo_2?pd_rd_i=0486404455&psc=1
The Nineteen Letters by Joseph Elias https://www.amazon.com/Nineteen-Letters-World-Rabbi-Hirsch/dp/0873066960
Covenant and Conversation by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks https://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Conversation-Genesis-Book-Beginnings/dp/1592640206
Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God by Jerry Walls, Trent Dougherty https://www.amazon.com/Two-Dozen-Arguments-God-Plantinga/dp/0190842229

Samuel is an associate professor in the philosophy department at the University of Haifa, as well as a rabbi and Jewish educator. Samuel holds a PhD in philosophy from Birkbeck College (University of London), and his academic interests cover the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of language. Samuel teaches at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies. Samuel’s most recent book, of several, is The Principles of Judaism, a strikingly sharp analysis of the fundamentals of the Jewish religion. Samuel’s first book was a study of Bertrand Russell’s dynamic theories about the nature of meaning.

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Transcript

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