What I was asking is in which book can I find "Emanuel Tov's" commentaries?

Shalom,
Vern

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Sorry. See Tov's Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. It's a really interesting piece of work - very readable.

Shalom.

{edited to add ...}

Metis, I notice that you are in the Detroit area. Are you associated with the Wine's group? Just curious ...

Thanks.




No, but I know who he is and have heard him on more than one occasion. He retired last year, I believe. Instead, I belong to a Reform synagogue that's involved with the Jewish Renewal movement. Fortunately, our shul is liberal enough to tolerate a non-theist like myself.

Why did you ask about Rabbi Wine? By chance are you affiliated with a humanistic shul?



Shalom,
Vern

__________________
"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Our temple, though in the URJ, had a past relationship with Rabbi Wine.

I'm sorry to say that the Rabbi was killed in an automobile accident in Morocco back on July 21st.

Shalom.

Really! I obviously wasn't aware of that. From May through mid-September we're normally at our place near Marquette, so I must have missed that news because of that (I pick up just some general news from downstate while we're there). Anyhow, I know Rabbi Wine was a very intelligent man and quite outspoken (some felt for the better and some felt for the worse), but there was no question about his intellect.

Again, thanks for the info. Btw, where are you located? I checked out your profile when you first came aboard, but there wasn't anything there.



Shalom,
Vern

__________________
"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

I wouldn't say that there are "advantages" to one way of thinking about deity over they other. I think that there are certain issues in monotheism (such as theodicy), and certain contradictions (how does a monotheistic gdeity manage to be both All Merciful and, at the same time All Just?) which are simply not problems in polytheism.

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Grassaf, Eolas

Polytheism is either intellectually backward (animism) or intellectually irresponsible (paganism). It has no more justification than does the Faerie Kingdom and often manifests itself as little more than an unserious affectation.

Since it seems that your idea of discussion and debate runs to handing out ill-considered and blanket insults, without a trace of argument to support them, I will put you on the permanent ignore list.

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Grassaf, Eolas

As you wish. The fact remains that those pervasively ignorant of the forces of nature saw them as indicative of an array of deities. That rationale dissolves with knowledge. There is simply no room for a Storm God in today's world save as an unserious affectation. Similarly, it is hardly surprising that a primitive society of clans and fiefdoms such as those that populated the levant should project such things as a Divine Council.

Polytheism has been reduced to, either, a metaphor for the various aspects of Deity (e.g. Hinduism), or a patchwork of shallow speculation.

One person's shallow speculation is another person's religion, and monotheists could be just as guilty of this as polytheists could be. If there's a deity, I have no idea how many there could be, nor do I feel capable of defining them.

Shalom,
Vern

__________________
"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein