This is a very "Jewish" book in that it raises as many questions as it answers, and it does not offer facile solutions to the most perplexing and prevalent problems. Which is exactly what I loved about it. If you want to discover the meaning of the universe or why bad things happen to good people, look elsewhere. But it you want to explore where these questions can lead you, you've come to the right place. That's about the best that anyone can do, and the author does an admirable job of presenting a gentle but firm argument for why we are better off with faith than without it. My main gripe with this book is that it feels underwritten. Rabbi Wolpe covers a lot of ground in his argument for the continuing necessity of faith in the modern world. However, while the book is studded with little gems of insight, they are too often simply left behind without any substantial explication. The result is a book that, overall, feels a bit light intellectually.I suspect, in part, this may simply have to do with the audience Wolpe has in mind. The book, while smart, seems to be written for a general audience with an interest in faith, but not necessarily an interest in an intellectually rigorous struggle with faith (though one gets the impression that Wolpe believes that faith must ultimately involve just such a struggle). This, in itself is fine, one need not criticize Wolpe for trying to reach out to as wide an audience as possible. However, since the book also explicitly positions itself in opposition to recent works by the so-called New Athiests, one wishes that it had risen to the level of intellectual rigor of those works (and, whether one agrees with them or not, they are largely intellectually challenging books). Wolpe is clearly interested in avoiding the rancor of the god wars, which is to be admired, but I suspect he went too far in holding back his intellectual firepower for the sake of civility. A spirited argument, after all, need not be a nasty argument.This book's chief strength lies in the presentation of faith as a struggle rather than a haven, and the pursuit of faith as a means of responding to an often inscrutable world rather than seeking to find all the answers.
What do You think about Why Faith Matters (2008)?
The author is a rabbi who spars with the current spate of atheistic books. Thoughtfully written.
—mike
The author is a very articulate Rabbi who expounds on his belief on the human need for same.
—Shami
I stopped reading after the third chapter (page 80). Too breezy for what I need right now.
—Chandni
