For the past twenty years, Tikkun magazine has advanced liberal ideals, featuring articles on such important issues as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish culture, and the intersection of religion and politics in the United States. Tikkun Reader is a collection of the best of Tikkun magazine since its inception, providing the most cohesive collection of writings articulating the progressive, left-leaning religious perspective on some of the most important issues facing both Jews and non-Jews today. Thematically arranged essays focus on a variety of topics, including Approaching God, Jewish Identity, Judaism, Israel, the Holocaust, and Spiritual Politics. An introduction by founder and editor-in-chief Michael Lerner sets the stage and places the readings in context. Contributors: Rachel Adler; Zygmunt Bauman; Daniel Berrigan; Cherie Brown; Tony Campolo; Fritjof Capra; Kim Chernin; Deepak Chopra; Harvey Cox; Lama Das; Amitai Etzioni; Jorge Ferrer; Nan Fink; Estelle Frankel; Yitzhak Frankenthal; Peter Gabel; Daniel Goldhagen; Roger Gottlieb; Arthur Green; Robert Inchausti; Andrew Kimbrell; Michael Kimmel; David Korten; Lawrence Langer; Jackson Lears; Julian Levinson; Daniel Matt; Daphne Merkin; Mohammed Nimer; Judith Plaskow; Joel Primack; Or Rose; Jonathan Schell; Kirk Schneider; Jonathan Schorsch; Ruth Setton; Vandana Shiva; William Sullivan; Jim Wallis; Neale Walsch; Rabbi Arthur Waskow; Cornel West; Rabbi Gershon Winkler, Ph.D. and Naomi Wolf Reviews: For twenty years, Tikkun Magazine has challenged its readers with an unexpected mix of politics and spirituality. In wide-ranging essays, Tikkun's contributors have demonstrated that, in a time of unprecedented culture wars between religion and secularism, it is still possible to ground progressive politics in religious values and religion in progressive values. Tikkun has also provided a refreshing and necessary forum where the conventional wisdom in the Jewish community on Israel and American Judaism might be questioned and where voices silenced elsewhere could finally be heard. — David Biale, editor of Cultures of the Jews: A New History Tikkun is more than a magazine, and Tikkun Reader is more than a book. It is a gateway to re-visioning the world transformed by justice, compassion, and humility. Enter and walk on boldly. — Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness As a political and religious moderate, I knew twenty years ago, when I lent my name to Tikkun's Editorial Board, that I would not agree with everything published, or maybe even most of it; but I wanted to support a creative, liberal voice in Jewish discourse to balance the conservative voices articulated in other Jewish magazines. This collection demonstrates that Tikkun has fulfilled that critical function admirably well. Like me, readers of this volume will not necessarily like the positions taken in its articles; but I suspect that they will share my gratitude for the thoughtful intellectual and moral challenges it poses. — Elliot Dorff, author of The Way Into Tikkun Olam In its twenty years of life, Tikkun might not have fixed the world, but it surely has infused the debate on its redemption with informed, provocative viewpoints. It shows that politics should not be an exercise in empty rhetoric, and most importantly, it has sought to bridge the gap between the spirit and the intellect—with hopeful results. This sampler is proof of its range. — Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture, Amherst College This collection of essays truly represents the "best of Tikkun," as a magazine devoted to the Jewish and ecumenical traditions of spiritual healing and prophetic transformation. In this selection of essays we see the profound depth and breadth of the vision of Tikkun which overcomes the split between spirituality and politics and addresses the many aspects of the human crisis of the 21st century. — Rosemary R. Ruether Michael Lerner is a visionary with the brain of an elephant and the heart of a lion. He inspires us to reveal and to share the best in us in order to heal the world and, in the process, ourselves. — Dean Ornish M.D., founder and president, Preventive Medicine Research Institute; Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; author of Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease Tikkun Reader offers a substantive examination of many aspects of contemporary life, asking us to weigh its questions, to engage intellectually and spiritually with large issues facing our world. It is a clarion call to consciousness at a time when it couldn't be more urgently needed. — L A Times An erudite rejoinder to the religious right. — Utne Reader Contents: Part 1 Introduction Part 2 Approaching God Chapter 3 An Ocean With Many Shores Chapter 4 A God That Is More Than Loving Chapter 5 Enchanted Agnosticism Chapter 6 Pentecostalism and the Future of Christianity Chapter 7 The God Beyond God Chapter 8 Redemption and the Ontological Mystery Part 9 Jewist Identity and Survival Chapter 10 The Kindest Un-Cut Chapter 11 Making Judaism Cool Chapter 12 Burning in Hell, Conservative Movement Style Chapter 13 Ten Ways to Recognize a Sephardic "Jew"ess Chapter 14 Crossing the Ethnic Divide Part 15 Judaism Chapter 16 Notes on Jewish Spirituality Chapter 17 The Woman in the Balcony: On Reading the Song of Songs Chapter 18 A Kabbalah For the Environmental Age Chapter 19 Quantum Cosmology and Kabbalah Chapter 20 Religious Restoration or Religious Renewal Chapter 21 On the Growing Edge of Judaism: Reb Zalman at Eighty Chapter 22 Life as Sacred Narrative Chapter 23 In Your Blood, Live: re-visions of a theology of purity Chapter 24 Starting On My Spiritual Path Part 25 The Holocaust & Its Lessons Chapter 26 The Holocaust's Life as a Ghost-Lingering Psychological Effects Chapter 27 Tainted Legacy: Remembering the Warsaw Ghetto Chapter 28 The Paradigm Challenged-Study of the Holocaust Part 29 Israel Chapter 30 Seven Pillars of Jewish Denial Chapter 31 We the Peacemakers Chapter 32 The Ideological Roots of Christian Zionists Chapter 33 Compromise for Peace Chapter 34 Healing Israel Part 35 Spiritual Politics Chapter 36 An Interview on Spiritual Politics With Michael Lerner & Cornel West Chapter 37 Contemporary American Spirituality Chapter 38 Economies of Meaning Chapter 39 Experts and Citizens: Rethinking Professionalism Chapter 40 Healing Our Hearts Chapter 41 Be Not Afraid Chapter 42 The Force of Nonviolence Chapter 43 Confronting Evil Chapter 44 Power and Cooperation Chapter 45 Spiritualizing Foreign Policy Chapter 46 Earth Democracy Chapter 47 A Spirituality of Resistance Chapter 48 The Challenge of the Twenty-First Century Chapter 49 Techno-Utopia? Chapter 50 After the End of History Chapter 51 Millennial Possibilities About the Editor: Named one of Utne's 100 American Visionaries, Michael Lerner is the founder and editor of Tikkun magazine and the author several books, most recently The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right. He is also the author of Jewish Renewal, Jews & Blacks, The Politics of Meaning, Spirit Matters, and Healing Israel / Palestine. He lives in Berkeley, California. |