In this book, David Michael Grossberg offers a fresh and illuminating perspective on the three-thousand-year history of Jewish monotheism by narrating the history of 'God is one' as a religious slogan from the ancient to the modern world. Although 'God is one' has been called Judaism's primary testimony of faith, its meaning has been obscure and contentious from its earliest emergence. From the Bible's acclamatory 'the Lord is one' to Philo of Alexandria's highest Word just secondary to God; from the Talmud's rejection of 'two powers in heaven' to the philosophers' First Existent who is one beyond unity; from the Kabbalists' ten-fold Godhead to Spinoza's one substance, this innovative history demonstrates the remarkable diversity encompassed by this deceptively simple Jewish statement of faith. Grossberg demonstrates how this diversity is unified in a continuous striving for knowledge of God that has been at the heart of Judaism from its earliest beginnings.
This innovative history demonstrates the remarkable diversity encompassed by the deceptively simple Jewish statement of faith, 'God is one'. Grossberg shows how this diversity is unified in a continuous striving for knowledge of God that has been at the heart of Judaism from its earliest beginnings.
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Offers a fresh perspective on Jewish monotheism's evolution by narrating the history of the phrase 'God is one' from antiquity to modernity.
Introduction; Part I. The Early History of 'God is One':
1. One God, ancient Egypt, and YHWH;
2. One God and the Bible;
3. One God (and God's word) in the Greek period; Part II. How Many 'One Gods' are There?:
4. One means not two: The Rabbis and the rejection of multiplicity;
5. One means not one: negative theology and medieval Jewish philosophy;
6. One means none (or Ten): God and the Kabbalah;
7. One means everything and nothing: knowledge of God and modernity; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index of Subjects.
David Grossberg is a sponsored researcher in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University. He is the author of Heresy and the Formation of the Rabbinic Community (2017) and co-editor of Genesis Rabbah in Text and Context (2016).
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