|
===Soul and afterlife===
As part of its philosophy, Reform Judaism anchored reason in divine influence, accepted scientific criticism of hallowed texts and sought to adapt Judaism to modern notions of rationalism. InJudaism additionwas toviewed theby otherEnlightenment traditional precepts its founders rejected, they also denied the belief in the future bodily [[resurrection of the dead]]. It was viewedthinkers both as irrational and an import from ancient middle-eastern pagans. Notions of afterlife were reduced merely to the [[Immortality#Judaism|immortality of the soul]]. While the founding thinkers, like Montefiore, all shared this belief, the existence of a soul became harder to cling to with the passing of time. In the 1980s, Borowitz could state that the movement had nothing coherent to declare in the matter. The various streams of Reform still largely, though not always or strictly, uphold the idea.<ref>[[Martha Himmelfarb]], "Resurrection", in: Adele Berlin (ed.), ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion'', Oxford University Press, 2011. p. 624.; Kaplan, ''Platforms and Prayer Books'', p. 217.</ref> The 1999 Pittsburgh Statement of Principles, for example, used the somewhat ambiguous formula "the spirit within us is eternal".<ref>Kaplan, ''Contemporary Debates'', p. 106.</ref> The only perceived form of retribution for the wicked, if any, was the anguish of their soul after death, and vice versa, bliss was the single accolade for the spirits of the righteous. Angels and heavenly hosts were also deemed a foreign superstitious influence, especially from early [[Zoroastrian]] sources, and denied.<ref>Romain, p. 8; Borowitz, ''Today'', p. 168; Petuchowski, pp. 183–184.</ref><ref>Walter Homolka, ''Liturgie als Theologie: das Gebet als Zentrum im jüdischen Denken'', Frank & Timme GmbH, 2005. pp. 63–98; and especially: J. J. Petuchowski, ''Prayerbook Reform in Europe: the Liturgy of European Liberal and Reform Judaism'', World Union for Progressive Judaism, 1968.</ref>
Along these lines, the concept of [[Jewish principles of faith#Reward and punishment|reward and punishment]] in the [[world to come]] was abolished as well. The only perceived form of retribution for the wicked, if any, was the anguish of their soul after death, and vice versa, bliss was the single accolade for the spirits of the righteous. Angels and heavenly hosts were also deemed a foreign superstitious influence, especially from early [[Zoroastrian]] sources, and denied.<ref>Romain, p. 8; Borowitz, ''Today'', p. 168; Petuchowski, pp. 183–184.</ref><ref>Walter Homolka, ''Liturgie als Theologie: das Gebet als Zentrum im jüdischen Denken'', Frank & Timme GmbH, 2005. pp. 63–98; and especially: J. J. Petuchowski, ''Prayerbook Reform in Europe: the Liturgy of European Liberal and Reform Judaism'', World Union for Progressive Judaism, 1968.</ref>
==Practice==
|