The difference lies in using reason as an assistant to faith rather than as an end in itself. The latter is a sterile dead end.
Reason is most useful in judging what is reasonable to believe and in elaborating the precepts of our faith.
It's an oversimplification to say that Christianity is based on faith and Judaism on rules. We can talk about points on a spectrum, but Christianity embraced the Old Testament and Judaism anchors its law in faith. Moreover, one must take into account the more spiritual and mystical expressions of Judaism in Chasidim (Sufism occupies a similar place on the spectrum for Islam).
Good choice of translators! I love every translation I have read by the team of Pevear and Volokhonsky.
An important difference between Christianity and Judaism is that Christianity is more focused on faith and Judaism is more focused on following a set of rules.
The word for religion in modern Hebrew is "dat" (דת), which first appears in the bible in the book of Esther, where it means "laws". The word is from the Persian, meaning "given", and is used today in Iran to refer to law. The word was picked up by the Greeks and then found its way into Latin and then English, where it was adopted for the given in science and computing, "data".
From this perspective religion and data are just two different forms of givens, and therefore not as incompatible as they may have seemed in Tolstoy's world.
And yet, perhaps ironically, Levin's breakthrough insight is born of reason that is transcendently sublime rather than mechanically pedestrian.
Wonderful essay.
Anybody who appreciated this article and its topic will likely enjoy this long essay that I just read in The Free Press. https://open.substack.com/pub/bariweiss/p/how-intellectuals-found-god-ayaan-hirsi-ali-peter-thiel-jordan-peterson?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=pnjlh
The difference lies in using reason as an assistant to faith rather than as an end in itself. The latter is a sterile dead end.
Reason is most useful in judging what is reasonable to believe and in elaborating the precepts of our faith.
It's an oversimplification to say that Christianity is based on faith and Judaism on rules. We can talk about points on a spectrum, but Christianity embraced the Old Testament and Judaism anchors its law in faith. Moreover, one must take into account the more spiritual and mystical expressions of Judaism in Chasidim (Sufism occupies a similar place on the spectrum for Islam).
Good choice of translators! I love every translation I have read by the team of Pevear and Volokhonsky.
An important difference between Christianity and Judaism is that Christianity is more focused on faith and Judaism is more focused on following a set of rules.
The word for religion in modern Hebrew is "dat" (דת), which first appears in the bible in the book of Esther, where it means "laws". The word is from the Persian, meaning "given", and is used today in Iran to refer to law. The word was picked up by the Greeks and then found its way into Latin and then English, where it was adopted for the given in science and computing, "data".
From this perspective religion and data are just two different forms of givens, and therefore not as incompatible as they may have seemed in Tolstoy's world.
Some of the details can be seen in a talk by an Israeli who is a Persian linguist at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cQvpZVfMS8 in segments beginning at 11:10 and 21:18.
Subtle