A virtual event presentation by Dr. Elias Sacks

About The Event:

Ever since the nineteenth century, it has been common for thinkers to declare that “God is dead”—that it no longer makes sense to believe in a deity (and perhaps never did). However, even as critiques of belief in God have become increasingly prevalent, a wide range of thinkers have challenged this perspective, arguing not only that there are good reasons to believe in God, but also that this type of belief is more important now than ever before. In this session, we will explore these issues, wrestling with diverse Jewish responses to questions such as: Does it make sense to believe in God? Does Judaism require that we believe in some type of deity, or are Judaism and atheism compatible? And what difference—if any—should believing (or not believing) in God make for how we think about ethics, politics, and the decisions we make about how to lead our lives?

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lpgn2HUAC--4s-gdQuR_MvVUYp5LcN83p4NUap1K-tI/edit?tab=t.0

About The Speaker:

Elias Sacks is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he studies Jewish thought, philosophy of religion, Jewish-Christian relations, religious ethics, and religion and politics. He is the author of Moses Mendelssohn’s Living Script: Philosophy, Practice, History, Judaism (2017), as well as articles on medieval and modern thinkers including Mendelssohn, Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Nachman Krochmal, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Jacob Taubes. Previously, Sacks served as Director of The Jewish Publication Society.