Israel Matzav

Shalem Center gets $1.1 million to study philosophical theology

The three-year Analytic Theology Project, with the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and the University of Innsbruck in Austria representing the Christian components of the endeavor, is aimed at advancing the use of philosophical methods in the study of religious topics and texts.

The Jewish component of the project will focus on developing techniques for the philosophical investigation of the Hebrew sources.

“Jewish tradition is text-based, and the guiding question for the Jewish component will be whether it is possible to profitably investigate the Hebrew Bible, Talmud and Midrash as works of genuine philosophical interest,” Shalem Center Provost and Senior Fellow Yoram Hazony, whose forthcoming book The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture: An Introduction deals with these issues, said in a statement on Monday.

“If so, then this can lead to new directions in Jewish philosophy, theology and Bible study. But the results of such work can also have an impact on Christian philosophy, and possibly even on other religions as well. This is a topic that is already being explored by a very small number of philosophers – but there is obviously much more work to be done in this direction, both in terms of methodology for the philosophical study of the Jewish sources, and in terms of substance.”

Hazony will oversee Shalem’s part of the project.

Labels: John Templeton Foundation, philosophical theology, Shalem Center, Yoram Hazony

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:08 AM