Gellman’s Trilogy as Constructive Analytic Jewish Theology

Yehudah Gellman`s Recent Theological work is a fine example of application of analytic philosophy to Judaism in the cause of Constructive Jewish Theology. Analytic Philosophy is of course predominate in Western Philosophy Today but most Jewish Philosophy follows Continental paradigms established by Cohen`s Neo-Kantianism, Buber`s Existentialism, and Levinas` Phenomenology. These schools have tended to shy away from making positive propositional statements about God in favor of modern varieites of negative theology, Kantian ethics, and the apophaticism of postmodernism. In Gellman we have a series of attempts to articulate what we can say positively about God, his powers and perfections. In addition we have new formulations of Jewish Peoplehood and chosenness as well as Revelation in Torah attuned to Biblical scholarship on historical development. Finally, following his Hasidic proclivities there is an extended attempt to outline a process of Jewish selfhood in which personal spiritual transformation is outlined. This paper will attempt to discuss Gellman`s analytic method and the meaning of Constructive Jewish theology with one or two examples.