Milton Steinberg
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Milton Steinberg
(1903-1950). U.S. Jewish philosopher, theologian, and rabbi. Born in Rochester, New York, Steinberg studied at City College, New York, where he encountered the philosopher Morris Raphael Cohen, whose critical methods and emphasis on reason influenced him, as did Bergson and Schopenhauer, the subjects of his master's dissertation. He also studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was particularly influenced by Mordecai M. Kaplan with his emphasis on Jewish peoplehood, the need for change, the use of one's critical faculties, and naturalistic approaches to belief. As a congregational rabbi, Steinberg first served in Indianapolis and then, from 1933, at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York. He was actively involved in communal and educational affairs and in Zionism. His first book, The Making of the Modern Jew (1934), was followed by A Partisan Guide to the Jewish Problem (1945) and Basic Judaism (1947). He also wrote the novel As a Driven Leaf (1939), about the heretical tanna Elisha Ben Avuyah.
Following his early death, notes and articles that he left were collected by Arthur A. Cohen in a posthumous volume, Anatomy of Faith (1960). Steinberg was active in Jewish Reconstructionism, believing in much of its program and ideology, but disagreed with Kaplan's theological position. He called for an enlightened modern faith, a belief in God which took into account science and modern knowledge, one far removed from simple, fundamentalist concepts but which left room for God as an active force in the world of men. Reason could not be the sole criterion of judgment, nor could it enable man to penetrate the realm of faith, since God is more than the world he perceives---the essence of all being.
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Milton Steinberg
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Milton Steinberg
| Rabbi Dr. Milton Steinberg | |
|---|---|
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| Organisation | Park Avenue Synagogue |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1903 Rochester, New York |
| Died | 1950 |
| Nationality |  United States of America |
| Denomination | Conservative Judaism |
| Children | Jonathan Steinberg, David Steinberg |
Milton Steinberg (November 25, 1903 - March 20, 1950) was an American rabbi, philosopher, theologian and author.
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Contents
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Life
Born in Rochester, New York, he was raised with the combination of his grandparents' traditional Jewish piety and his father's modernist socialism. He graduated as valedictorian of his class at DeWitt Clinton High School and then majored in Classics at City College of New York which he graduated from summa cum laude in 1924. Steinberg received his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University in 1928 and then entered the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he was ordained. In seminary, he was strongly influenced by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983), the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism.
After five years in a pulpit in Indiana, he was invited by the Seminary to assume the pulpit of Manhattan's Park Avenue Synagogue, then a small congregation with a Reform orientation. In his sixteen years at the congregation, he grew it from 120 to 750 families. In 1943 he had a near fatal heart attack.
While a disciple of Kaplan who considered himself a Reconstructionist, Steinberg was critical of Kaplan's dismissal of metaphysics.
Steinberg's works included Basic Judaism, The Making of the Modern Jew, and As A Driven Leaf, a historical novel revolving around the talmudic characters Elisha ben Abuyah and Rabbi Akiba. In his final years, he began writing a series of theological essays. This project, which he had hoped would conclude in a book of theology, was cut short by his death at age 46.
An unfinished second novel, The Prophet's Wife, about the Tanakh characters Hosea and Gomer, was published in March 2010.
Publications
Non-fiction
- The Making of the Modern Jew (1934)
- A Partisan Guide to the Jewish Problem (1945)
- Basic Judaism (1947)
- A Believing Jew (1951)
- Anatomy of Faith (1960)
Novels
- As a Driven Leaf (1939)
- The Prophet's Wife (2010)
See also
References
- Noveck, Simon, "Milton Steinberg" in Kessner, Carole S., The "Other" New York Jewish Intellectuals, New York University Press, 1994.
- "RABBI STEINBERG DIES AT AGE OF 46", New York Times (1857-Current file); Mar 21, 1950; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2005) pg. 29
External links
- Steinberg and Zionism
- Guide to the Milton Steinberg Papers at the American Jewish Historical Society
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The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. Copyright © 1989, 2002 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.
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