SHULA JACOBS,
NEW and BRILLIANT Upload!Principles of the Jewish Faith: An Analytical Study. By Louis Jacobs. Vallentine Mitchell. 1964. xii + 475 pp. 63s. Rabbi Jacobs has been compared by the journalists to the Bishop of Woolwich and he has certainly become a controversial figure in ... Continue Reading ➨
Reviews of Louis Jacobs’s books
This section contains a selection of book reviews written by a broad range of authored, including academics and rabbis, offering critical comments on the works of Rabbi Louis Jacobs.
Review by Bro. P. P. Philip Kantor of ‘We Have Reason to Believe’
Originally published in Bnai Brith Bulletin (Australia), March 1962, pp. 12-13, 20. These books have been lately much discussed. Rabbi Dr. Jacobs is considered by influential Jewish circles in Britain as a highly qualified scholar and as a ... Continue Reading ➨
‘The Case Against Fundamentalism’ – A Review by Hyam Maccoby
Originally published in Jewish Quarterly 32: 1 (117) (1985), pp. 47-50. A TREE OF LIFE: DIVERSITY, FLEXIBILITY, AND CREATIVITY IN JEWISH LAW By Louis Jacobs (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1984, ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Rabbi Jack Riemer of ‘Jewish Law’
Originally published in Conservative Judaism, 23: 4 (Summer 1969), p. 81. Jewish Law, by Louis Jacobs, New York: Behrman House, 1968, 210 pp., $4.95. For years the curricula of our religious schools have focused on Bible stories, and our ... Continue Reading ➨
‘We Have Reason to Go Further’ – John D. Rayner
WE HAVE REASON TO GO FURTHER Louis Jacobs’ Progressive Conservatism John D. Rayner When in 1957 I first read We Have Reason To Believe, the book that sparked ‘The Jacobs Affair’, I could not see what all the fuss was about. Surely its thesis, that ... Continue Reading ➨
‘Fantasies of Cheescake’ – A review of ‘Ask the Rabbi’ by Reuven Ben Dov
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post, 20 May 1999. An ideal book for an easy browse on Shavuot night is Ask The Rabbi. Questions and Answers on Judaism by Louis Jacobs (London, Valentine Mitchell: 237 pp.; price not stated). This ... Continue Reading ➨
Three Books on Jewish Faith – Norman Solomon reviewing ‘Beyond Reasonable Doubt’, ‘Must a Jew Believe Anything?’ and ‘Revelation Restored’
Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies, 52:1 (Spring 2001), pp. 146-154. David Weiss Halivni, Revelation Restored: Divine Writ and Critical Responses. Westview Press, Boulder, 1997. 144 pp. $20.00 / £12.50. Louis Jacobs, Beyond ... Continue Reading ➨
Thirty years on, revelation reviewed – by Emma Conway
Originally published in Le'ela (December 1999), pp. 67-8. Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Louis Jacobs, London, Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1999, 267 pages, £24.95 cloth. Perhaps the clearest expression of the tensions and conflicts within ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Principles of the Jewish Faith’ in The Jews and Ourselves
Originally published in The Jews and Ourselves: Judaism and Christianity in the World of Today, 3:1 (Winter 1965), pp. 35-8. Principles of the Jewish Faith. An Analytical Study. By Louis Jacobs. Vallentine and Mitchell, London, 1964, pp. ... Continue Reading ➨
Louis Jacobs’ Doctrine of Revelation – A review of ‘A Jewish Theology’ by Menachem Kellner
Originally published in Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, 14:4 (Fall 1974), pp. 143-7. Jewish theology seems to be enjoying something of a renaissance today. It reached its high-point in the middle ages with the Jewish Aristotelians ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Beyond Reasonable Doubt’ by Bernard Glassman
Originally published in Conservative Judaism, 52:1 (Fall 1999), pp. 81-2. Beyond Reasonable Doubt, by Louis Jacobs. London and Portland, Oregon: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1999. 267 pages. Louis Jacob’s new book, Beyond ... Continue Reading ➨
The Modernism of Louis Jacobs – A Review by John Rayner
THE MODERNISM OF LOUIS JACOBS by John Rayner A Jewish Theology, by Louis Jacobs. 322 pages. (Darton, Longman & Todd). £4.75. A 14th-century Halachist produced a law-code which he called Kol Bo, “Everything is in it”, and was duly rewarded ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘A Jewish Theology’ in The Month
Originally published in The Month, July 1974, p. 652. Rabbinical Lore A Jewish Theology by Louis Jacobs. (Darton, Longman and Todd, pp. 342, £4.75). Rabbi Dr Jacob’s book deserves the highest praise. It contains a full, almost encyclopaedic ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘We Have Reason to Believe’ by Alan J. L. Jacobs
Originally published in A.J.A. Quarterly, 3:2 (1957), pp. 39-40. FAITH We have Reason to Believe. By Rabbi Louis Jacobs. Vallentine Mitchell. 15s. Rabbi Louis Jacobs has both the courage and the knowledge to answer the most perplexing problems ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Their Heads in Heaven’ by Elliot Cosgrove
Originally published in The Journal of Religion, 87:1 (2007), pp. 138-40. JACOBS, Louis. Their Heads in Heaven: Unfamiliar Aspects of Hasidism. London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2005. x + 190 pp. $28.95 (paper). This volume is one of several recent ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Structure and Form in the Babylonian Talmud’ by Robert Goldenberg
Originally published in AJS Review, 20:1 (1995), pp. 186-8. Louis Jacobs. Structure and Form in the Babylonian Talmud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. xii, 138 pp. This book presents the basic claim that the Babylonian Talmud as a ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Theology in the Responsa’ by Bernard S. Jackson
Originally published in Religious Studies, 13:4 (1977), pp. 511-14. Louis Jacobs, Theology in the Responsa. The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975). Pp. xi + 378. £6.00. The Jewish ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Tree of Life’ by David Pearl
Originally published in The Cambridge Law Journal, 44:3 (1985), pp. 509-10. A Tree of Life. Diversity, Flexibility and Creativity in Jewish Law. By Louis Jacobs. [Oxford: Oxford University Press for The Littman Library. 1984. 248, (Appendices and ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Theology in the Responsa’ by Jakob J. Petuchowski
Originally published in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 44:4 (1976), p. 742. Theology in the Responsa. By Louis Jacobs. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization), 1975. xi + 378 pages. $18.75. ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Hasidic Prayer’ by Alan L. Berger
Originally published in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 42:1 (1974), pp. 142, 144-6. Hasidic Prayer. By LOUIS JACOBS. New York: Schocken Books, 1973. 195 pages. $8.95 hb. L.C. No. 72-86765. Louis Jacobs’ Hasidic Prayer is the ... Continue Reading ➨