Creation, evolution and Jewish thought

Although there has been significant academic analysis of Christian responses to Darwinian evolution, there has been no similar treatment of Jewish responses. This thesis presents Jewish theological and scientific responses to Darwinian evolution from 1863 until the end of the twentieth century.; By beginning this treatment with an extended survey of Jewish articulations of creation since the Bible, I frame the Jewish responses to Darwinism within the context of traditional Jewish thought. Furthermore, I note the relationships between these pre-modern articulations of creation and the regnant science of the period. Two chapters focus on nineteenth-century theological responses from Europe and from America. Chapter Four covers theological responses from around the world in the twentieth century. These chapters include voices within Orthodox and non-Orthodox movements. The fifth chapter is an examination of the responses to Darwinism by Orthodox Jewish scientists in the late-twentieth century.; I found that the theologians, with several salient exceptions, employ the dialogue model to relate science and religion, eschewing a literal reading of Genesis as science. Two of the Orthodox Jewish scientists retreat to the medieval, integration model and argue that Genesis presents accurate natural history. Nearly all the Jewish respondents accept evolution, i.e., the transmutation of species. The Darwinian mechanism of natural selection, however, is almost universally rejected. Jewish respondents tend to insist on elements of traditional teleology within natural history, a demand which is in tension with orthodox Darwinism.; Notwithstanding acceptance of evolutionary theory, there is still the need to account for evolutionary history. There are two primary strategies for contending with the massive mortality of species throughout natural history. The first is to emphasize radical immanence, in which natural history unfolds within the divine, thus neutralizing the problematics of providence and theodicy. Alternatively, some respondents emphasize Isaac Luria's tzimtzum, a concept which points toward a transcendent deity. Both strategies are able to rely on theologies deeply embedded in traditional Jewish thought.