{"id":42,"date":"2006-10-05T15:37:32","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T15:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/summametaphysica.com\/ge\/7000-rational-morality-between-man-and-god\/7002-moral-intelligibility-and-absoluteness\/"},"modified":"2018-04-23T16:30:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T16:30:58","slug":"7002-moral-intelligibility-and-absoluteness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/7000-rational-morality-between-man-and-god\/7002-moral-intelligibility-and-absoluteness\/","title":{"rendered":"70.02 Moral Intelligibility and Absoluteness (pps.45-47)"},"content":{"rendered":"

hard cover page 45<\/p>\n

A pivotal issue in theodicy is whether the interaction between the Divine and man is morally intelligible. Those who posit that it is not leave themselves wide latitude in addressing the classic theodicy dilemma, but detract from the internal elegance and power of Judaism.177 <\/sup>Those who posit in the affirmative,178<\/sup> the tradition of Abraham, Isaiah, and Mairnonides, set a higher standard for Judaism but a tougher task regarding theodicy.179<\/sup><\/p>\n

We would assert as follows: Exclusive only of one’s personal situation, man does have the right to seek the moral underpinnings of the interaction between man and the Divine. (On our<\/p>\n

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177 <\/sup>Philosophical opponents who challenge the rational- morality- of- God line of argument often erroneously cite Isaiah 55 as evidence of an inscrutable morality of God. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.” The context of the oft-cited verse reveals no such intention. The succeeding verse explains its proper context.<\/p>\n

For as the rain cometh down
\nand the snow from heaven,
\nAnd returneth not thither,
\nExcept it water the earth,
\nAnd make it bring forth and bud,
\nAnd give seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
\nSo shall My word be
\nthat goeth forth out of My mouth;
\nIt shall not return unto Me void
\nExcept it accomplish that which I please,
\nAnd make the thing whereto I sent it prosper.<\/p>\n

The intention is to convey the super-morality of God, not the supra-morality of God. If anything, reading the verse in context buttresses the rationalists. Isaiah is certainly the wrong prophet to cite in defense of an inscrutable morality of God.<\/p>\n

178 <\/sup>Cf. Schulweis, Evil and the Morality of God<\/em>, p. 120. “If the moral predicates mean one thing when applied to human beings and something incomprehensibly other when ascribed to God, no ethical universe of dis- course can be said to exist. Not only is a critique of God’s ways impossible, but a critique of man’s conduct is similarly jeopardized. From the vantage point of a supramoral God. who knows whether our moral judgments of our society correspond to His moral criteria? . ..Biblical religion, in contrast to theology, opposes the rupture. ‘I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I said not unto the seed of Jacob: “Seek ye Me in vain.” I the Lord speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.’ (Isaiah 45: 19).”<\/p>\n

179 <\/sup>Cf. Berkovits, Faith after the Holocaust,<\/em> p. 68. “This questioning of God with the very power of faith stands out at the earliest beginnings of the Jewish way in history. Abraham wrestled with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. We note how the man, who in the humility of his piety sees himself as mere ‘dust and ashes’ yet has the audacity to challenge God with the words: The judge of all the earth shall not do justice?!”<\/p>\n

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hard cover page 46<\/p>\n

exclusion of “one’s personal situation,” see the discussion of “bifurcation” in the appendix.) Schulweis notes:<\/p>\n

God wishes man to understand Him morally so that he can emulate Him morally. God informs Abraham of His plans for Sodom and Gomorrah, “for I have known him to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, and they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18:19). Nothing vitiates the moral purpose of the covenant as much as the envelopment of God in a mist of supramoral inscrutability. It is the measure of the greatness of His personality that He is morally intelligible.<\/p>\n

“For the Lord will do nothing, but He revealeth His counsel unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). For Jeremiah. God wishes to be known. To know God is no metaphysical exercise. It means to imitate God’s moral concern for the weaker vessels of society. “Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 22:15).180<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once we differentiate qualitatively between human morality and Divine morality, we enter a netherworld of theological and moral chaos. “Thus I have explained to you that the stream of reason which flows toward us from the Lord, may Me be exalted, is the bond which unites us with Him” (Maimonides).181<\/sup><\/p>\n

If reason is the “very bond which unites us,” it would follow that the moral interaction should be within reason, as well.<\/p>\n

Woe unto them who say of evil, it is good, and of good, it is evil; that change darkness into light and light into darkness; that change bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201dIsaiah 5:20<\/p>\n

It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, “Who<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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180 <\/sup>Schulweis, Evil and the Morality of God<\/em>, p. 79.
\nCf. ibid., p. 80.
\nCf. ibid., p. 81. “The bilateral covenant signifies that there is no double standard, one for God and one for man. .. . Indeed, the qualitative sameness of the moral attributes enables man’s moral imitatio dei.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

181 <\/sup>Maimonides, Guide<\/em> 3:51.<\/p>\n

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hard cover page 47<\/p>\n

shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it down to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, “Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDeuteronomy 30:12-14<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This strain of thought, however important it may be in Jewish writings, is of course not unique to Judaism. John Hick notes:<\/p>\n

A theology cannot go unchallenged when it is repugnant to the moral sense that has been formed by the religious realities upon which their theology itself professes to be based.182<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To take the liberty of inverting the thrust of Saint Ignatius’ dictum: We should never fail to believe that white is white, even if our hierarchic church defines it as black.183<\/sup>
\nShubert Spero concludes that the values which God has commanded man to follow are actually God’s ways.184<\/sup> He notes that the rabbinic teaching of imitutio dei<\/em> is found in several statements:<\/p>\n

What does the text mean, “Ye shall walk after the Lord your God”? …to follow the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He …
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201dT. B. Tractate Sotah185<\/sup><\/p>\n

As the All-Present is called compassionate and gracious, so be you also compassionate and gracious.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201dSifrei186<\/sup><\/p>\n

As He is compassionate and gracious, be also compassionate and gracious.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201dMekhilta, Shabbat187<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fackenheim, following the Midrash, notes that morality for Judaism is “nothing less than a threefold relationship involving man, his neighbor, and God Himself.”188<\/sup> Consequently, if morality is to serve as the basis for the relationship, it must be intelligible.<\/p>\n

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182 <\/sup>Hick, Evil and the God of Love<\/em>, p. 98.<\/p>\n

183 <\/sup>Also note that Ignatius’ dictum has a direct parallel in Jewish literature “eve if right is left, and left is right.” Cf. John Stuart Mill, An Examination of Sir William Hamilton’s Philosophy. <\/em>“I will call no being good, who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow creature, and if such a being can sentence me to hell for not so calling him, to hell I will go.” As cited in Schulweis, Evil and the Morality of God<\/em>, p. 26.<\/p>\n

184 <\/sup>Shubert Spero, Morality, Halakha and the Jewish Tradition<\/em>, p.86.<\/p>\n

185 <\/sup>T. B. Sotah 14a; Genesis 3:21, 18:1, 25: 11; Deuteronomy 34:6<\/p>\n

186 <\/sup>Sifrei Deuteronomy 49, 85a.<\/p>\n

187 <\/sup>Exodus 15:2, Mekhilta 37a, Shabbat 133b.<\/p>\n

188 <\/sup>E. Fackenheim, Encounters Between Judaism and modern Philosophy<\/em> (New York: Schocken, 1980), p. 48.<\/p>\n

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