03/07/2026 17:20 - 19:30

HALL: Pola - A204

Contact: Kessler S.

Chair: Frogel B.

Scholarship in Jewish theology has long oriented itself in relation to the canon of modern Jewish thought which wrestled with the polarity between reason and revelation. However, since the middle of the twentieth century, another strain of Jewish theology has existed, one that challenges the philosophical assumptions of the more dominant paradigm. Rather than presupposing the absolute perfection of divine reality and the limits of its human reception, this subaltern theology investigates the character of the human response to divine word and revelation, finding within it a theological space—even necessity—for the human role in interpreting and shaping the face of the divine will.


This panel brings together four papers on the theology of David Weiss Halivni, a specifically insightful exponent of the essence and implications raised by this alternate strain in modern Jewish theology. Halivni does not ask how we live in the tension between reason and revelation, but rather, how do we construct a coherent vision of God's will when confronted by the "maculate" (i.e., seemingly imperfect) template of revealed scripture? As Halivni wrote, "Even the most conservative scholars concede that the literal surface of the scriptural Torah is such that adjunct nonscriptural traditions are required to enable actual observance." This panel seeks to expound both the core issues at play in Halivni's theology—the axial, perhaps even ontological relationship between Scripture and Oral Law—as well as is implications for a Jewish theology still in shadow to the reason-revelation dichotomy.