Review of The Crisis of the Holy

Abstract

In this review, I analyze, in regard to Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism, how the crisis of the holy in contemporary culture is not formed directly by the effect of modernity on traditional religion but rather by the defensive steps of the religion itself in protection of its religious identity. In other words, I show how the contemporary concern for religious identity renders contemporary spirituality—the living relationship with God—problematic. In the course of this analysis, I focus first upon the thought of R. A. I. Kook as well as upon contemporary trends in Islam and Hinduism. In the second part of the essay, drawing especially upon contemporary Jewish thought and the Frankfurt School critique of modern capitalist society, I show how both postmodern theory and “negative theology” can be resources for the contemporary renewal of spirituality.