Can Orthodox Education Survive Biblical Criticism?

[1] Note: A version of this essay was read as a paper in the summer of 2014 at the inaugural conference of the Oxford Summer Institute in Modern and Contemporary Judaism (OSI-MCJ). The conference was organized by Drs. Adam Ferziger and Miri Freud-Kandel and was titled: “Modern Orthodoxy and the Road not Taken: A Critical Exploration of Questions arising from the Thought of Rabbi Dr Irving (Yitz) Greenberg.”

[2] The meaning of this principle and how or if it can work with modern biblical studies is discussed in the TABS essays “Making Sense of the Revelation at Sinai: Revisiting Maimonides’ Eighth Principle of Faith” by Prof. Sam Fleischacker, “I shall Fear God Alone and not Show Favor in Torah: A Conceptual Foundation for Wrestling with Biblical Criticism” by R. David Bigman, and “‘The Lord Spoke to Moses’ – Does God Speak?” by Dr. Baruch Schwartz.

[3] The introduction was translated into English and posted as an essay on TheTorah.com called, “Existential or Non-Essential: History and Torah, Religious Language and Conceptions of God.”

[4] For more on how Wittgenstein and his theory of language can be useful in thinking through these issues, see the TABS essays: “Torah MiSinai and Biblical Criticism: Rising to the Full Challenge” by R. Dr. Jeremy Rosen, “Orthodoxy and the Challenge of Biblical Criticism” by Prof. Tamar Ross, and “Existential or Non-Essential: History and Torah, Religious Language and Conceptions of God” by R. Dr. Amit Kula.