Q&A: Apropos Thin Theology
Apropos Thin Theology
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I think that, with all due respect to the theology diet, it’s hard to ignore the difficulty in the fact that from time to time we update the foundations of our faith. In the end, doesn’t that turn God and religion into matters of legend, what you like to call begging the question? Here too, we assume what we already believe anyway, and whatever doesn’t seem right to us we perform surgery on and throw in the trash.
In other words, do you really believe that you are simply uncovering what already exists, or is there in fact a use here of religion for our own personal beliefs?
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. The diet is not about what I think, but about what I am required to think in order to fall within the legitimate framework. What I think, I think, and the same is true for everyone else. Thin theology does not come to say what one must think and that everything else is nonsense. Rather, it says that everything else is not binding.
Just to clarify: nothing in the realm of thought is binding, because there is no formal authority regarding facts. When I wrote “binding,” I meant that it defines the boundaries of Jewish legitimacy, or of Judaism.
Beyond the existence of God, the creation of the world, and the giving of the Torah, almost everything else is up to your own judgment. Someone who does not believe in one of these is outside the Jewish framework. And everything beyond these is not Judaism but universal philosophy, and each person according to his own understanding.