Robert Erlewine is the Isaac Funk Professor of Philosophy at Illinois Wesleyan University and the author of Monotheism and Tolerance and Judaism and the West. His book Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known by God brings together Heschel’s key insights on a range of topics.
In this small collection of Heschel's writings from across his life, we get insight into his capacity to hold in balance a life of prayer and serious study of Scripture with prophetic action. The foreword by his daughter Susannah gives a wider perspective on the importance for reading Heschel in these troubled times in which inter-religious dialogue is as important as ever.
The Presbyterian Outlook
Plough has done a mitzva by publishing this collection of his works, and in a form that honors Heschel’s own subordination of intellectual systemization to the breath of God moving over the human heart... As the book itself explains, “Heschel... challenged the sensibilities of the modern West, which views science and human reason as sufficient. Only by rediscovering wonder and awe before mysteries that transcend knowledge can we hope to find God again.
Scott Beauchamp, Law & Liberty
Anyone looking for inspiration from the prophets in order to create a more just world will appreciate Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known by God.
The Reporter Group, Jewish Federation of Greater Binghamton
Thunder in the Soul compiles Heschel’s writings on a number of topics, from the distressing lack of wonder and awe in modern Western society to the nature of God’s relationship with humans.
Illinois Wesleyan University
Maintains the poetic cadences and relentless spirit of inquiry that dominated all of Heschel’s work, but distills his lovely and provocative arguments into snack-sized helpings for the seeker on the go. “The world … is crammed with marvel,” Heschel wrote; the same is true of this humble introduction to his work.
Foreword Reviews
Illuminating. . . . Those new to Heschel will appreciate this accessible introduction.