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Benjamin D. Sommer
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Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library) Hardcover – June 30, 2015

by Benjamin D. Sommer (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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Winner of the 2016 Goldstein-Goren Award for the best book in Jewish Thought

At once a study of biblical theology and modern Jewish thought, this volume describes a “participatory theory of revelation” as it addresses the ways biblical authors and contemporary theologians alike understand the process of revelation and hence the authority of the law. Benjamin Sommer maintains that the Pentateuch’s authors intend not only to convey God’s will but to express Israel’s interpretation of and response to that divine will. Thus Sommer’s close readings of biblical texts bolster liberal theologies of modern Judaism, especially those of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Franz Rosenzweig. This bold view of revelation puts a premium on human agency and attests to the grandeur of a God who accomplishes a providential task through the free will of the human subjects under divine authority. Yet, even though the Pentateuch’s authors hold diverse views of revelation, all of them regard the binding authority of the law as sacrosanct. Sommer’s book demonstrates why a law-observant religious Jew can be open to discoveries about the Bible that seem nontraditional or even antireligious.
Previous page
  1. Part of series
    The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library
  2. Print length
    440 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Yale University Press
  5. Publication date
    June 30, 2015
  6. Dimensions
    6.13 x 1.13 x 9.25 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0300158734
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0300158731
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] groundbreaking work . . . Clearly written and broad in application . . . an important read for Jewish laypeople, clergy, and scholars . . . [and] also likely to appeal to non-Jews who want to make modern biblical scholarship relevant for believers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Sommer lays out his argument in six well-informed and cogent chapters.”—Marvin A. Sweeney, AJS Review


“Sommer’s book is thought-provoking. . . . [T]his book deserves to be taken seriously.”—Paul Sanders, Review of Biblical Literature


“An essential volume for all those engaged in the study of the Hebrew Bible, biblical interpretation, Jewish thought, and biblical theology . . . courageous, honest, and dynamic.”—Hindy Najman, Marginalia Review of Books

"Clear, bold, and innovative."—Jeffrey Stackert, Biblical Interpretation

“Jews and non-Jews who read [Revelation and Authority] will discover a wealth of information and an intriguing discussion of the place of the Bible within the corpus of Jewish literature.”—Gary G. Porton, Review of Rabbinic Judaism

"In his thoughtful, creative, and learned book, Revelation and Authority, Benjamin Sommers reflects on Catholic ideas of the relationship between scripture and tradition."—John C. Cavadini, Marginalia

"As Sommer so masterfully explicates, Talmud Torah creates a sacred space, a dialogical topos in which devout Jews study, debate, and question the biblical record of the Israelites' encounter with God."—Paul Mendes-Flor, Marginalia

“This is a masterful work, integrating strands and patterns in biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish thought into a constructive scholarly project.”—Yudit Kornberg Greenberg, Reading Religion

“A refreshing, intellectually, and morally honest approach towards the role the Hebrew Bible might play for a religious Jew, or indeed for any religious person who grapples with how to treat the Bible both as scripture and as flawed.”—Sarah Wolf, Journal of Law and Religion

Finalist for the 2015 National Jewish Book Awards in the category of Scholarship

Winner of the 2016 Goldstein-Goren Award for the best book in Jewish Thought

Finalist in the philosophy and Jewish thought categories for the 2015 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award given by the Association for Jewish Studies

“The breadth, creativity, and boldness of Sommer’s book along with the clarity of his writing impressed the judges.”—Prize Committee, 2015 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award


"In uncovering the multilayered concepts of revelation in the biblical traditions Benjamin Sommer provides us the biblical roots of modern Jewish thought on revelation and its relation to authority and tradition. This is an extraordinary book in biblical criticism and in Jewish thought and above all one of its most illuminating contributions is how these two fields of inquiry enrich one another."—Moshe Halbertal, Professor of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Hebrew University and Gruss Professor of Law, New York University School of Law


"This is a groundbreaking book . . . one of the most original works in Jewish theology that I have read in years."—Gary A. Anderson, Hesburgh Professor of Catholic Theology, University of Notre Dame


“Benjamin Sommer's extraordinary mix of scholarly rigor, historical imagination, lucid writing and honest theological concern brilliantly illuminate every subject he touches, and this most central of subjects, revelation and authority, is no exception. With this volume he offers scholarly and general readers alike refreshingly new ways of looking at some of the oldest and yet most pressing questions, with acuity and grace.”—Yehudah Mirsky, author of Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution

About the Author

Benjamin D. Sommer is professor of Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He lives in Teaneck, NJ.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press (June 30, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 440 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300158734
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300158731
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.13 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

About the author

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Benjamin D. Sommer

Benjamin D. Sommer

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Benjamin D. Sommer is Professor in the Department of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Previously he was the Director of the Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies at Northwestern University, where he taught from 1994 through 2008. He has been a visiting faculty member at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem, the Brite Divinity School of Texas Christian University, and the University of Chicago.

Dr. Sommer's book, The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel (Cambridge University Press, 2009), received two major honors: the Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the Textual Studies category, awarded in 2010 by the American Academy of Religion, and the Jordan Schnitzer Award from the Association for Jewish Studies, for the best book published in the years 2006-2009 in biblical studies, rabbinics, or archaeology. The book addresses perceptions of divine embodiment in ancient Israel, Canaan, and Assyria, and how these perceptions reappear in later Jewish philosophy and mysticism. The AJS Prize Committee described Sommer's book as "an original, wide-ranging and accessible work of scholarship . . . a cross-cultural tour de force" and wrote that his "thesis has implications for understanding not only the theology of ancient Israel but also the theologies of its surrounding world, whether in Mesopotamia or the Levant, as well as those of rabbinic Judaism and Christianity." (Interestingly, the AAR jury also used the phrase "tour de force" to describe the book.)

Dr. Sommer's first book, A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40-66 (Stanford University Press, 1998), was awarded the Salo Wittmayer Baron Prize by the American Academy of Jewish Research for best first book on ancient or medieval Judaism published in 1998. He has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies,the Yad Hanadiv/Beracha Foundation, the Tikvah Center at New York University Law School, and the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University.

Dr. Sommer serves as the Editor of the Psalms volumes of the Jewish Publication Society Bible Commentary Series and is writing the first volume of that five-volume set. He is also working on a book that will be published by Yale University Press, Artifact or Scripture? The Jewish Bible Between History and Theology. This book will examine whether the Bible, understood as the ancient Near Eastern document it is, can be relevant for modern Jewish thought.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Steve
5.0 out of 5 stars REVELATION FROM A MODERN-CRITIC JEWISH PERSPECTIVE
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2016
Verified Purchase
This books amazingly displays the Participatory Theory of Revelation at Sinai.

Some of its stances propose a Revelation without specifics, which may have bee developed by Moses and later sages throughout the history of the Ancient Israel to the formalization of Jewish traditions and later on to our own days. Since it proposes a continuing view on revelation, the authority of the Written Torah seems more limited than extended to outer elements, for which the Oral Torah may stand un in power. However, no diminishing stance is placed upon the Torah's authority, but the re-interpretation of revelation process and its authority it represents in the Jewish community.
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Alisa
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2018
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Great book for anyone interested in contemporary Jewish Theology
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Swamp Dweller
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book now!
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2015
I am so taken with Professor Summer's work and I can not wait to read his latest book that is one the way to my home now. If you have never learned with him, buy this book, it will give you both inspiration and wisdom.
2 people found this helpful
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