26 05, 2020

The Devil and Daniel Webster

By |2020-05-26T10:34:53-07:00May 26th, 2020|Book Reviews, Thoughts|

Good literature makes us think. The poet Stephen Vincent Benet’s short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” is a classic that everyone can enjoy, and it makes us think. It can raise many questions for perceptive readers. Lots of adaptations were made of the story, including two full-length movies in 1941 and 2001 - the [...]

26 04, 2017

Nachmanides’ strange understandings of demons, hell, souls, women’s period, rape, and other subjects

By |2017-04-26T04:07:07-07:00April 26th, 2017|Thoughts|

The following is a draft of a chapter from my forthcoming book "Nachmanides: An Unusual Thinker," which should be published sometime this year   The prior chapter examined Nachmanides’ mystical view of God. This chapter looks at his approach to other subjects. Did Nachmanides insist that midrashic tales are not parables, but true facts? Did [...]

14 03, 2013

What is heaven and hell?

By |2013-03-14T07:31:10-07:00March 14th, 2013|Thoughts|

By Israel Drazin   Among many good ideas, C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) offers readers an interesting concept about heaven and hell in his dream/parable “The Great Divorce.” He reveals that heaven is not a state of mind, but hell is.   Heaven is what is real on earth. People who see life for what it [...]

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