New Books In Jewish Studies

Today, most Jewish thinkers have turned away from theology. And if they do, they look into one narrow window into the subject, writing a treatise into topics like the problem of evil or the nature of Jewish chosenness. Not so with today's guest, Michael Marmur. In his newest work, Living The Letters: An Alphabet of Emerging Jewish Thought (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) Marmur explores dozens of the most pressing theological and philosophical issues in Judaism from the nature of Torah to the place of spirituality today, from the meaning of Jewish peoplehood to the place of Israel. In this work, Michael Marmur employs the structure of the Hebrew alphabet to set out elements of an emerging Jewish theology, presenting a case for the urgent relevance of Jewish life at a time of deepening rupture and accelerating change. He presents core components of a theory and practice of contemporary Judaism. The Hebrew alphabet has long beguiled and preoccupied Biblical authors and liturgical poets, rationalists and mystics, con