Heschel questioned what object is worthy of our supreme worship? He thought that nature is the ultimate mystery; and mystery is the end? He saw that nature assumed ultimate significance and became the supreme object of adoration and source of comfort and salvation during the Romantic Movement. In Judaism: adoration of nature is absurd as the alienation from nature is unnecessary. The western man must choose between the worship of God and the worship of nature. But, the biblical man does not take anything for granted and to him the laws of nature are as much in need of derivation as the processes ruled by these laws. He lays out that the imposed law is a monotheistic conception of God as essentially transcendent and only accidentally immanent. Where as the immanent law is a pantheistic doctrine of God as essentially immanent, but is in no way transcendent. The biblical man does not see nature in isolation but in relation to God. Thus, there are differing views between the biblical culture and Greek culture. The biblical viewed nature as a sister, god created both of us, and invoke nature to God. But the Greeks, viewed nature as mother, giver of life, and believed she should be worshipped. The environment in which we live is a manifestation of a giver. Where Mendele (1800’s) preached nature to those who are too religious, and said they needed to poke holes in ritualistic practices, Heschel (20th century) saw secularization as becoming dominant and believed Jews were too alienated from God. Therefore, he said that nature is valuable, but should not be worshipped.
|