Synopses & Reviews
The Biblical View of Man argues cogently that the Bible is more about human beings than about God and insists that, in the biblical view, what human beings need is not so much wisdom or grace but rather their own free will to fulfill the obligations that a loving God has bestowed upon them in order to allow them to prove and improve themselves. According to Rabbi Leo Adler, the exercise of such free will, rather than implying a lack of need for God, actually requires a firm commitment to God. First published in German in 1965, this engaging interpretation of the Bible appears in English for the first time.
Review
"In this recently translated work, Leo Adler argues cogently that the Bible is a book about human beings rather than a book about God. He maintains that it is both realisitc enough to know that people can sin knowingly, but also optimistic enough to teach that God has given them both the choice and the ability to do right." —
Jewish Book WorldReview
"The author possesses the ability to craft a philosophy of Judaism, which is at once thoughtful and intellectually stimulating, while at the same time religiously sincere and spiritually uplifting." —Mali Brofsky, Lookstein Digest
About the Author
Rabbi Dr. Leo Adler (1915--1978), whom the upheavals of the twentieth century took from seminary studies in Germany to study in the Mir Yeshiva in Lithuania and then in Shanghai, spent the last quarter-century of his life as rabbi of the Jewish community of Basel, Switzerland. During that period he also earned a doctoral degree in modern philosophy and wrote several books in German on Jewish tradition and religious thought. The Biblical View of Man brings together perspectives that were nurtured by Jewish culture, by philosophical inquiry, by his own study of the Bible, and by his manifold experiences in a troubled world.
Daniel R. Schwartz is a professor in the Department of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.