Jewish Theology for a Postmodern Age

In the postmodern, relativist world-viewwith its refutation of asingle, objective, and ultimate truth, it has become difficult if notimpossible to argue in favour of one’s own beliefs as preferable to those ofothers. Miriam Feldmann Kaye’spioneering study is one of the first English-language books to addressJewish theology from a postmodern perspective, probing the question of how Jewish theology has the potential tosurvive the postmodern onslaught that some see as heralding the collapseof religion. Basing herarguments on both philosophical and theological scholarship, Feldmann Kaye showshow postmodernism might actually be a resource for rejuvenatingreligion.

Her response to the conception of theology andpostmodernism as competing systems of thought is based on a close criticalstudy of Rav Shagar (Shimon Gershon Rosenberg) and Tamar Ross. Rather thanadvocating postmodern ideas, she analyses their writings through the lens ofthe most radical of continental postmodern philosophers and cultural critics inorder to offer a compelling theologycompatible with that world-view. Whetherthe reader considers postmodernism to be inherently problematic or merelyinconsequential, this study demonstrates why reconsidering these preconceptionsis one of the most pressing issues in contemporary Jewish thought.