The God Upgrade: Finding Your 21st-Century Spirituality in Judaism's 5,000-Year-Old Tradition - Softcover

Jamie S. Korngold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580234437 ISBN 13: 9781580234436

Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2011

Synopsis

The biggest stumbling block when it comes to religion is God, even for an ordained rabbi who admits her rational mind "just 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 many faces of God, Adventure Rabbi Jamie Korngold examines how our concept of God has changed over the centuries, and how these changes have shaped every aspect of Judaism. She shows that by upgrading our God concept to one that is aligned with our modern sensibilities, the result is a Judaism that is both meaningful and accessible.

In an exploration energized with enthusiasm and humor, Rabbi Korngold looks at God concepts ranging from the earliest perspectives to some of the most influential modern theologies. Ultimately she introduces a concept of God that speaks to the issues of the twenty-first century.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Introduction: Running God System 1.0 in a 2.0 World
• Part I: THE ISSUES WITH GOD 1.0
  • Chapter 1: Looking for Lightning
  • Chapter 2: They Taught You That in Sunday School?
  • Chapter 3: God Envy
• Part II: UPGRADES THROUGH THE CENTURIES
  • Chapter 4: God 1.0--When the World Was Flat, God Had It Easy
  • Chapter 5: God 1.1--Therapist with Superpowers
  • Chapter 6: God 1.2--On the Farm with God
  • Chapter 7: God 1.3--Discovery of the Afterlife
  • Chapter 8: God 1.4--Arguing with God
  • Chapter 9: God 1.5--Maimonides on What God Is Not
  • Chapter 10: God 1.6--Spinoza's Spin on God
  • Chapter 11: God 1.7--Rabbi Harold Kushner on When Bad Things Happen
    to Good People
  • Chapter 12: God 1.75--Rabbi Harold Schulweis Says God Is in the
    Grammar
  • Chapter 13: God 1.8--Rabbi Martin Buber's I-Thou
  • Chapter 14: God 1.9--Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Praying with
    Our Feet
• Part IV: GOD 2.0--GOD IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
  • Chapter 15: God and the Big Bang
  • Chapter 16: Finding God on a Mesa
  • Chapter 17: According to What Authority?
• Part V: JUDAISM 2.0--A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF GOD ENABLES A NEW UNDERSTANDING
  OF JUDAISM 
  
  • Chapter 18: Why Do I Feel Attached to Judaism Even Though I Never Go
    to Synagogue?
  • Chapter 19: Who Wrote the Torah?
  • Chapter 20: Does God Hear Our Prayers?
  • Chapter 21: My Life Is Already Overbooked. Why Should I Make Time for
    Judaism?
  • Chapter 22: What Happens When We Die?
  • Chapter 23: Judaism 2.0--The Upgrade
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix: 36 Large and Small Ways to Make Judaism Relevant and Meaningful
  in Your Life, Especially If You Don't Believe There Is a God Up in the Sky
  Who Can Come Down Here and Fix Things!

About this title

About the Author

Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, is nationally acclaimed for her innovative work in Judaism. Founder and spiritual leader of the Adventure Rabbi Program, she is a popular retreat leader and speaker on the topics of Judaism and Jewish life. She is the author of God in the Wilderness: Rediscovering the Spirituality of the Great Outdoors.

Rabbi Korngold is an ordained Reform rabbi and the founder and executive director
of the Adventure Rabbi Program, based in Boulder, Colorado. She is nationally
recognized for her innovative work combining religion and nature, as well as
for her cutting-edge use of technology.

Rabbi Korngold is an athlete and a scholar. She completed the Leadville Trail
100, a hundred-mile running race, in less than thirty hours and was ranked fourth
in the nation for telemark mogul skiing. She is a graduate of Cornell University's
natural resources program and received her masters and ordination from Hebrew
Union College.


Rabbi Korngold is best known for her ability to make Judaism relevant, meaningful,
and accessible and therefore opening the doors back to Judaism for thousands
of disenfranchised Jews. Through her nature-based approach to religion, she
is able to bridge the gap between scientific thought and religion, healing a
fissure that often disrupts spiritual paths.


She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and two daughters.

From the Back Cover

"So I'm not Jewish, okay? But I loved this book.

Rabbi Korngold presents her faith -- and faith itself -- in an accessible, friendly, warmhearted, provocative and, above all, inviting way and answers the most common questions about Judaism (asked by both Jews and non-Jews)....

Rabbi Korngold shows how a tradition that began 5,000 years ago can draw us closer to the God who lives today."

Rev. James Martin, S.J.
Author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.

From the Inside Flap

"Catholics often hear, 'The Church is not a cafeteria. You can't pick and choose what you want to believe.'

What Rabbi Korngold offers is Judaism's rich banquet of theologies.
No matter what your religion, the rabbi's invitation is the same:
Pull up a chair and dig in!"

Mary Doria Russell
Author of New York Times Bestsellers The Sparrow and A Thread of Grace

Reviews

"Korngold, a Reform rabbi who as "Adventure Rabbi" leads outdoor hikes and retreats designed to recreate the spiritual connection between nature and Judaism, takes her 2008 book God in the Wilderness a step further.

She presents brief updates of the concept of God as advanced by Maimonides, Spinoza, Buber, Heschel, and Kushner before offering her own understanding of God.

She asserts that "upgrades" are in keeping with Jewish tradition and rejects the conception of a God that keeps score of human deeds and hands out punishments or rewards accordingly.

Instead, she argues for modernizing the contemporary notion of God so that it becomes compatible with both science and Judaism.

This involves maintaining ancient rituals as "gems" that tie today's Jews to ancestors and to each other.

Traditions and heritage linked to contemporary understanding will produce a fresh view of God that can "inspire you, bring you comfort, and fill your life with peace."

While Korngold primarily addresses Jews, her powerful message can resonate with people of all faiths as they struggle to reconcile science and religion.

Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review, April 2011

Edition details

• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1580234437
• ISBN 13: 9781580234436
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176