The God Upgrade

The God Upgrade

Finding Your 21st-century Spirituality in Judaism’s 5,000-year-old Tradition

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About the book

The biggest stumbling block when it comes to religion is God, even for an ordained rabbi who admits her rational mind “just can’t buy into a God in the sky who writes down our deeds and rewards and punishes us accordingly.”

But not being sold on an intervening God shouldn’t bar you from living a vibrant and fulfilling Jewish life. The God concept has seen many upgrades over the centuries and it is these reinterpretations that have kept Judaism relevant

In this provocative look at the many faces of God, Adventure Rabbi Jamie Korngold examines how our concept of God has changed over the centuries, and how these changes have shaped every aspect of Judaism. She shows that by upgrading our God concept to one that is aligned with our modern sensibilities, the result is a Judaism that is both meaningful and accessible.

In an exploration energized with enthusiasm and humor, Rabbi Korngold looks at God concepts ranging from the earliest perspectives to some of the most influential modern theologies. Ultimately she introduces a concept of God that speaks to the issues of the twenty-first century.

About the author

Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, is nationally acclaimed for her innovative work in Judaism. Founder and spiritual leader of the Adventure Rabbi Program, she is a popular retreat leader and speaker on the topics of Judaism and Jewish life. She is the author of God in the Wilderness: Rediscovering the Spirituality of the Great Outdoors.

Rabbi Korngold is an ordained Reform rabbi and the founder and executive director of the Adventure Rabbi Program, based in Boulder, Colorado. She is nationally recognized for her innovative work combining religion and nature, as well as for her cutting-edge use of technology.

Rabbi Korngold is an athlete and a scholar. She completed the Leadville Trail 100, a hundred-mile running race, in less than thirty hours and was ranked fourth in the nation for telemark mogul skiing. She is a graduate of Cornell University’s natural resources program and received a Masters in Hebrew Letters and ordination from HebrewUnion College.

Rabbi Korngold is best known for her ability to make Judaism relevant, meaningful, and accessible and therefore opening the doors back to Judaism for thousands of disenfranchised Jews. Through her nature-based approach to religion, she is able to bridge the gap between scientific thought and religion, healing a fissure that often disrupts spiritual paths.

She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her two daughters.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction: Running God System 1.0 in a 2.0 World
• Part I: THE ISSUES WITH GOD 1.0
  • Chapter 1: Looking for Lightning
  • Chapter 2: They Taught You That in Sunday School?
  • Chapter 3: God Envy
• Part II: UPGRADES THROUGH THE CENTURIES
  • Chapter 4: God 1.0–When the World Was Flat, God Had It Easy
  • Chapter 5: God 1.1–Therapist with Superpowers
  • Chapter 6: God 1.2–On the Farm with God
  • Chapter 7: God 1.3–Discovery of the Afterlife
  • Chapter 8: God 1.4–Arguing with God
  • Chapter 9: God 1.5–Maimonides on What God Is Not
  • Chapter 10: God 1.6–Spinoza’s Spin on God
  • Chapter 11: God 1.7–Rabbi Harold Kushner on When Bad Things Happen
    to Good People
  • Chapter 12: God 1.75–Rabbi Harold Schulweis Says God Is in the
    Grammar
  • Chapter 13: God 1.8–Rabbi Martin Buber’s I-Thou
  • Chapter 14: God 1.9–Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Praying with
    Our Feet
• Part IV: GOD 2.0–GOD IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
  • Chapter 15: God and the Big Bang
  • Chapter 16: Finding God on a Mesa
  • Chapter 17: According to What Authority?
• Part V: JUDAISM 2.0–A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF GOD ENABLES A NEW UNDERSTANDING
  OF JUDAISM
  • Chapter 18: Why Do I Feel Attached to Judaism Even Though I Never Go
    to Synagogue?
  • Chapter 19: Who Wrote the Torah?
  • Chapter 20: Does God Hear Our Prayers?
  • Chapter 21: My Life Is Already Overbooked. Why Should I Make Time for
    Judaism?
  • Chapter 22: What Happens When We Die?
  • Chapter 23: Judaism 2.0–The Upgrade
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix: 36 Large and Small Ways to Make Judaism Relevant and Meaningful
  in Your Life, Especially If You Don’t Believe There Is a God Up in the Sky Who Can Come Down Here and Fix Things!

From the Inside Flap

“Catholics often hear, ‘The Church is not a cafeteria. You can’t pick and choose what you want to believe.’ What Rabbi Korngold offers is Judaism’s rich banquet of theologies. No matter what your religion, the rabbi’s invitation is the same: Pull up a chair and dig in!”

Mary Doria Russell
Author of New York Times Bestsellers The Sparrow and A Thread of Grace

From the Back Cover

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review.

“Korngold, a Reform rabbi who as “Adventure Rabbi” leads outdoor hikes and retreats designed to recreate the spiritual connection between nature and Judaism, takes her 2008 book God in the Wilderness a step further. She presents brief updates of the concept of God as advanced by Maimonides, Spinoza, Buber, Heschel, and Kushner before offering her own understanding of God.

She asserts that “upgrades” are in keeping with Jewish tradition and rejects the conception of a God that keeps score of human deeds and hands out punishments or rewards accordingly. Instead, she argues for modernizing the contemporary notion of God so that it becomes compatible with both science and Judaism. This involves maintaining ancient rituals as “gems” that tie today’s Jews to ancestors and to each other.

Traditions and heritage linked to contemporary understanding will produce a fresh view of God that can “inspire you, bring you comfort, and fill your life with peace.” While Korngold primarily addresses Jews, her powerful message can resonate with people of all faiths as they struggle to reconcile science and religion.

Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review, April 2011

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

More Praise for The God Upgrade:

“In this provocative look at the ways in which God concepts have evolved and been upgraded through the centuries, Adventure Rabbi Jamie Korngold examines how our changing ideas of God have shaped every aspect of Judaism. With enthusiasm and humor, she shows that by aligning our understanding of God with modern sensibilities, Judaism can be made more meaningful, accessible and fully compatible with twenty-first-century life. – Goodreads

“Produces a fresh view of God…. [A] powerful message [that] can resonate with people of all faiths as they struggle to reconcile science and religion.” –Publishers Weekly

“Funny, honest and passionate … a provocative, intriguing and always interesting exploration of Jewish theology that will grab you from the first page. God-wrestlers, this book is for you!” –Dr. Ron Wolfson, co-president, Synagogue 3000; author, God’s To-Do List

“Clear, accessible … will serve as a safe entry point into serious conversations about Jewish theology and spirituality for a new generation.”  –Rabbi Daniel Freelander, senior vice president, Union for Reform Judaism

“Courageous! Grapples with religion with such honesty, wisdom and humor.” –Harold Grinspoon, founder, Harold Grinspoon Foundation

“Offers a way into Judaism that doesn t require adherence to a stale and rigid theology. [A] powerful and compelling articulation of Judaism.” –Rabbi Sharon Brous, founder, IKAR

“Offers terrific examples of how creative and innovative Jewish educators can link millennia-old traditions with the natural world to inspire young Jews to chart their own course through our rich heritage.”
–Lynn Schusterman, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation

“Provides all of us primarily parents and teachers with a thoroughly accessible resource for introducing a younger generation into the riches of Jewish theology. Particularly unconventional and noteworthy is the author s use of nature as another revealed text, parallel to Torah and the synagogue, where God can be experienced.” –Rabbi Neil Gillman, PhD, emeritus professor of Jewish philosophy, The Jewish Theological Seminary

“I loved this book…. Accessible, friendly, warmhearted, provocative and, above all, inviting … shows how a tradition that began 5,000 years ago can draw us closer to the God who lives today.” –Rev. James Martin, SJ, author, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

“A gift to those struggling with a way to live a postmodern Jewish life. Rabbi Korngold s love for Judaism is an inspiration for Jews like me with a more traditional Jewish theology, and a gift to anyone of any faith or no faith searching for meaning. Rabbi Korngold shows how you don t have to leave your critical faculties at the door of your place of worship to find your way into an authentic devotional life.” –Yossi Klein Halevi, fellow, The Shalom Hartman Institute; author, At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden

“A funny, easy-to-read page-turner. Judaism has a better chance of being relevant to our daily lives with such wise teachings.” –Diane Troderman, educator and philanthropist

“A powerful critique of classical theology and a gutsy call for a rethinking of Judaism…. A rare voice of hope, clarity and brutal honesty in an age of religious disillusionment, Korngold has produced one of the most stunning expressions of love, awe and spiritual longing in Jewish writing today.” –David Hazony, author, The Ten Commandments

“Offers Judaism’s rich banquet of theologies. No matter what your religion, the rabbi s invitation is the same: pull up a chair and dig in!”
–Mary Doria Russell, author, The Sparrow and A Thread of Grace

“If there were more rabbis and ministers like Jamie Korngold, religious affiliation in America would not be dropping as rapidly as it is.” –Elliot Gerson, The Aspen Institute

“What do we uncomfortable souls… who have sometimes felt ourselves to be on the periphery of Jewish life, have in common with the great Jewish wrestlers who came before us? They were, as we are, looking for a way in, as individuals and as members of a community. This is precisely what Korngold understands best, in the most unabashed way.” –Scott-Martin Kosofsky, author, Jl