The God Upgrade: Finding Your 21st-Century Spirituality in Judaism's 5,000-Year-Old Tradition
For people who don't believe that God can intervene in our lives, and why Judaism is still important.
"Judaism has so much to teach us about how we treat ourselves, each other, and our planet…. Of course, you can learn these values elsewhere. But as a people, Jews have thousands of years of experience turning this kind of stuff over and over. [We've] had millions of users working to debug the system. Rather than look to other sources for guidance, let us turn to our own people’s past to discover what it has to say about our present and our future."
—from the Introduction
For some people, the biggest stumbling block in religion is God—even for an ordained rabbi who admits her rational mind "can’t buy into a God in the sky who writes down our deeds and rewards and punishes us accordingly." But not being sold on an intervening God shouldn’t bar you from living a vibrant and fulfilling Jewish life. The God concept has seen many upgrades over the centuries and it is these reinterpretations that have kept Judaism relevant.
In this provocative look at the ways in which God concepts have evolved and been upgraded through the centuries, Adventure Rabbi Jamie Korngold examines how our changing ideas of God have shaped every aspect of Judaism. With enthusiasm and humor, she shows that by aligning our understanding of God with modern sensibilities, Judaism can be made more meaningful, accessible and fully compatible with twenty-first-century life.
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Book details
- Author
- Jamie Korngold
- Imprint
- Jewish Lights, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Paperback, Hardcover
- Subjects
- Religion › Judaism
- Topics
- Jewish theology · God concept · Jewish spirituality · modern religion · rationalist faith · Jewish tradition
- ISBN-13
- 9781580234436 (Paperback)9781683363699 (Hardcover)
About the author
RABBI JAMIE S. KORNGOLD is an ordained Reform rabbi, founder of the Adventure Rabbi Program, and the author of 11 books, including The God Upgrade: Finding Your 21st-Century Spirituality in Judaism’s 5,000-Year-Old Tradition and God in the Wilderness.
Korngold holds degrees from Cornell University’s natural resources program and Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, where she also received her ordination. Publisher’s Weekly named The God Upgrade one of the ten best religion books of the year. She has been featured by Good Morning America, NPR, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
When she’s not writing, Korngold leads the Adventure Rabbi Program, combining Judaism with the outdoors. Her books reflect that same integration of Jewish tradition and the natural world.
Jamie lives in Boulder, Colorado.
