Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

PEACE WITHOUT CONCILIATION: The Irrelevance of "Toleration" in Judaism

PEACE WITHOUT CONCILIATION: The Irrelevance of "Toleration" in Judaism Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz The interactions that are possible between Jews and non-Jews in modern times are fundamentally different from those of any previous era in Jewish history. Particularly in the Western world, Jews and non-Jews meet each other in civil society on an equal footing. In the secular context of the modern state, a consensus has been reached about religious freedom. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists may live side by side—and each by his own faith shall live. Despite this infrastructure of toleration, our times are plagued by religious fanaticism and hatred. It seems that the political consensus to “live and let live” has done little to alleviate the intolerance that is inherent to religious belief. The difficulties involved in recognizing the faiths of others are particularly acute when the religions involved are monotheisms. Every religion makes claims to truth that cast doubt on the claims made by other religions, but in monotheist religions those claims tend to be absolute and exclusive. Belief in a unique and omnipotent God who lives beyond the limitations of time, who created the universe and has revealed truths through his prophets, makes it difficult to account for alternatives. A significant http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Common Knowledge Duke University Press

PEACE WITHOUT CONCILIATION: The Irrelevance of "Toleration" in Judaism

Steinsaltz, Rabbi Adin
Common Knowledge , Volume 11 (1) – Jan 1, 2005
Download PDF
7 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/duke-university-press/peace-without-conciliation-the-irrelevance-of-toleration-in-judaism-oqePETHxES
Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2005 by Duke University Press
ISSN
0961-754X
eISSN
1538-4578
DOI
10.1215/0961754X-11-1-41
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz The interactions that are possible between Jews and non-Jews in modern times are fundamentally different from those of any previous era in Jewish history. Particularly in the Western world, Jews and non-Jews meet each other in civil society on an equal footing. In the secular context of the modern state, a consensus has been reached about religious freedom. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists may live side by side—and each by his own faith shall live. Despite this infrastructure of toleration, our times are plagued by religious fanaticism and hatred. It seems that the political consensus to “live and let live” has done little to alleviate the intolerance that is inherent to religious belief. The difficulties involved in recognizing the faiths of others are particularly acute when the religions involved are monotheisms. Every religion makes claims to truth that cast doubt on the claims made by other religions, but in monotheist religions those claims tend to be absolute and exclusive. Belief in a unique and omnipotent God who lives beyond the limitations of time, who created the universe and has revealed truths through his prophets, makes it difficult to account for alternatives. A significant

Journal

Common Knowledge – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2005

There are no references for this article.