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"Rabbi Irving Greenberg's Magnum Opus - The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism"
[PHILADEPHIA, PA August 1, 2024] – The Jewish Publication Society (JPS) is honored to announce the publication of Rabbi Irving Greenberg’s magnum opus, The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, winner of the Natan Fund's Natan Prize, 2024.
The Triumph of Life is a narrative of the relationship between God and humanity as expressed in the Jewish journey through modernity, the Holocaust, the creation of Israel, and the birth of Judaism’s next era.
Greenberg describes Judaism’s utopian vision of a world, created by a God who loves life, who invites humans to live on the side of life and enables the forces of life to triumph over death. The Bible proclaims our mission of tikkun olam, repairing the world, such that every human image of God is sustained in the fullness of our dignity. To achieve this ideal, Judaism offers the method of covenant, a partnership between God and humanity across generations in which human beings grow ever more responsible for world repair.
Rabbi Avi Weiss, founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and Yeshivat Maharat, describes The Triumph of Life as “a theological masterpiece: a deeply inspiring religious treatise and a revolutionary work of religious and ethical thought that will undoubtedly be studied in seminaries of all faiths, universities, and adult study groups for generations to come.”
In this book, Greenberg calls on us to redirect humanity’s unprecedented power in modernity to overcome poverty, oppression, inequality, sickness, and war. The work of covenant requires an ethic of power—one that advances life collaboratively and at a human pace—so that the Jewish people and all humanity can bring the world toward the triumph of life.
“The Triumph of Life is exhilarating. A culmination of a lifetime of theological reflection from the visionary thinker Rabbi Irving Greenberg, it offers us a stunning portrait of the Jewish tradition as a grand drama in which God and the Jewish people dream together of a perfect world and work painstakingly to bring it about. Read this book and you will never see the Jewish tradition the same way again,” said Rabbi Shai Held, president and dean at The Hadar Institute and author of The Heart of Torah.
Publishers Weekly praised the book, noting that “Judaism may be based in the notion of a divinehuman partnership, but people must now take the lead in forging a more perfect world, according to this ambitious treatise from Rabbi [Yitz] Greenberg… Greenberg’s reminder to ‘start where you are’ in creating a freer, more just society is wise, even if his vision for an ideal world sometimes seems out of reach. Readers will be inspired.”
For more information, please visit jps.org.
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