Religions and Mysticism

Religions and Mysticism

An Analytical-Critical Study of Richard Rubenstein’s Theological Views

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Alireza Moayyedrad 1
Milad Azamimaram 2
1 MA Student, Department of Comparative Religions and Mysticism, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Religions and Mysticism, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
10.22059/jrm.2025.396879.630623
Abstract
The Holocaust provoked a profound theological crisis among Jewish thinkers, and Richard Rubenstein's thought emerged from this struggle. He argued that after Auschwitz, belief in «God of history» became intellectually and morally indefensible, rendering all traditional theodicies inadequate. Consequently, he attempted to reconstruct Jewish theology in light of modern realities. This study employs a critical-analytical approach to examine Rubenstein's radical reinterpretations of Jewish traditional theology. His reinterpretation centres on five key doctrines: divine presence/absence, evil and theodicy, the biblical covenant, the meaning and purpose of history, and the sustaining of faith. Rubenstein claimed we now live in the age of «death of God» and must seek an embodied theology. Accepting the «death of the historical God», his theology moves toward a naturalistic conception of divinity: «holy nothingness». Rubenstein distinguishes between natural and modern evil. Natural evil is inherent to our world-we must accept life with both its creative and destructive moments, recognising our place in this cosmic process. Modern evil, however, stems directly from modernity's processes: instrumental rationality, secularisation, and managing «surplus populations». This analysis led Rubenstein toward militant positions that suffer from methodological errors, including reductionism in his analysis of modernity, neglecting human agency in events like the Holocaust, and aligning with Islamophobic discourses
Keywords
death of God
Holocaust
holy nothingness
modernity
theodicy
violence
Subjects
جابری‌زاده، محمدعرفان و شهبازی، علی (۱۳۹۸). تصور از خدا در الهیات پساهولوکاست یهودی. پژوهش‌های ادیانی. ۷(۱۳). 221-۲40.

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Religions and Mysticism
Volume 58, Issue 1
(Spring & Summer 2025)
September 2025
Pages 55-77