Part 6 of this book club - (Same God, Other God by Alon Goshen-Gottstein):
Here the author presents how Jewish scholar Nachmanides made it easier for non-Jews to practice their own religion as long as it sat within certain guidelines. The goal is always the same, open up a path for Hinduism to enter the Noahide congress of religions, even if they seem the least worthy of the destinction of being Noahides.
- Avoda Zara is prohibitted by Noahide Law.
- Nachmonides says the description of Avoda Zara is different for Jews and non-Jews.
- Nachmonides does not attack image worship but looks at the act of faith.
- Unlike Maimonides, Nachmanides does not state that Avoda Zara among non-Jews is error, flase, or deception, but is based upon a valid approach to reality.
- God's jealousy only applies to the people of Israel.
- Nachmonides has three levels of worship for non-Jews:
- first stage is worship of seperate intelligences. These are not stars or astral bodies. These angels do have power so worshiping them is not error or pointless and the Bible recognizes them as gods in their own right.
- second, the worship of physical planets is the worship of the angels that they represent embodied.
- third is demon worship which is metaphysically inferior but again not useless. Demons are not counted among gods. Demons can have negative affects too.
- Nachmonides student Rashba states that none of these three phases of worship mentioned above are counted as idolatry for non-Jews as long as they remember the one true god during worship.
- Other nations outside or Israel have been appointed other gods, so it makes no sense that they cannot worship these gods alongside the one true god.
- When Hindus worship they worship the absolute, so it is likely not Avoda Zara.
- Shituf is the worship of another deity alongside the one true god, many deem this permissible for non-Jews.
- Modern Jewish teachings are often pantheistic or panentheistic and so they correlate well with Hinduism.
- The image itself alone does not constitute wrong worship.
No comments:
Post a Comment