Darwin in the Jewish Imagination: Jews’ Engagement with Evolutionary Theory

This book offers the first major study of Jewish responses to Darwinian evolution, one of the most transformative and contested ideas of the industrial age. Spanning a century of intellectual and cultural history, it traces how Jewish thinkers—traditionalists, reformers, secularists, mystics, and philosophers—grappled with the profound implications of evolutionary theory for religious belief and cultural identity. Through close readings of key figures and debates across Europe, North America, and pre-state Israel, the book situates Jewish responses within wider contexts: the science–religion controversy, Jewish-Christian interfaith relations, and the challenges of modernity. A central theme is the tendency in Jewish thought to identify God with the evolving universe and its natural laws. The book explores how foundational concepts such as creation, divine action, and human morality were reinterpreted in light of Darwin’s ideas, and examines the impact of these reinterpretations on religious practice, ethical frameworks, and even internal Jewish eugenic discourse. Interdisciplinary in scope, this study not only shows how Jewish thought engaged creatively with evolutionary theory but also reveals the broader cultural and theological exchanges that helped shape modern Judaism. In doing so, it illuminates how science and Jewish religion entered into a dynamic and often enriching dialogue—very different from the experience of Christian religion and science—with lasting consequences for Jewish belief, identity, and intellectual life.