Kenneth Seeskin - "Thinking about the Torah" - David J. Cohen

Kenneth Seeskin discusses Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible. He will be joined in conversation by David J. Cohen.

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About the book: The Bible is an enduring source of inspiration for the human heart and mind, and readers of Thinking about the Torah will be rewarded with an enhanced understanding of this great work’s deeper meanings. Drawing on Western philosophy and particularly Jewish philosophy, Kenneth Seeskin delves into ten core biblical verses and the powerful ideas that emerge from them. He speaks to readers on every page and invites conversation about topics central to human existence: how finite beings can relate to the infinite, what love is, the role of ethics in religion, and the meaning of holiness.
 
Seeskin raises questions we all ask and responds to them with curiosity and compassion, weaving into his own perceptive commentary insights from great Jewish thinkers such as Maimonides, Spinoza, Buber, Rosenzweig, and Levinas, as well as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Luther, Kant, and Kierkegaard.
 
The Bible is concerned with how we think as well as how we follow the commandments, rituals, and customs. Seeskin inspires us to read the Torah with an open mind and think about the lessons it teaches us.   

About the author: Kenneth Seeskin is Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University. He is the author of several books, including Searching for a Distant God: The Legacy of Maimonides, winner of the Koret Jewish Book Award, and is the coeditor of The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Culture, and Religion, winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

About the interlocutor: David J. Cohen is currently a PhD student of History of Judaism at the University of Divinity School. His research interest ranges from medieval Jewish reception of Philosophy to Jewish responses to German Idealism. Previously, he has earned his M.A. in religion studies from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.