The Jewish monitor. (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.) 191?-1921, 1919-10-03
Friday, October 8, 1919.
JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND
THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS
By G. George Fox, Temple
BETHEL, Fort Worth,
Texas.
Review by David Bronstein, in the
Chicago Sentinel.

The thinking men and women, both
Jews and Christians, will hail the pub
LEGATION of this small, but neat, little
volume as an event, and as very val
liable source Of information. The want
of such a book has been felt for the
last few decades, since the higher crit
icism Of the Old and the New Tesla
ments began to make such wonderful
progress, and since both, enlightened
and thinking Jews and Christians,
have come to conclusion that the most
important elements of each religion
are its social teachings and ethical
precepts. Many rabbis, in their SER
mons, articles and books, have touch
ed upon some Of the topics, Of which
Rabbi Fox treats in this book. How
ever, none has as yet combined all
these topics in such a thorough and
systematical way as the author Of this
book has done it. Besides, many Of
our rabbis seem to be anxious to han
die the problem with silk gloves and
avoid certain statements, which, al
though true, might generate some
hard feelings in the hearts Of some
Of the followers of the dominant relig-
ion. Not so is the case with our au.
thor, who never makes any statements
but what he gives the truth in its per-
fectly undisguised form.
While there is a great deal Of ma.
terial in the book, which will be deem
ed quite instructive even for the pro.
fessional scholar and rabbi, the book
is Of great interest mainly for the
educated layman, whether Jew or
Christian, as well as for the average
Christian minister, who is not averse
to enlightening information. These,
last mentioned, classes will be able to
derive not only information, but in
spiration as well, out Of this, compar-
atively small, volume. The average
thinking Jew, if he is orthodox, knows
very little about Christianity, except
that it is the creed Of those who have
been prosecuting his people for the
last sixteen centuries, in the name Of
this same creed. The reform Jew, al
though little more tolerant in this
respect, is still less informed along
these lines, since, in the majority Of
cases, he is not even familiar with any
Of those elements in Judaism, which
went towards the making up Of all
that in Christianity, which so strong.
ly appeals to the modern man. The
author while having produced a good,
scholarly work, has written it in such
an easy and popular style, that the
layman, as well as the scholar will en-.
joy IL. II is true, at times the good
impression the book makes upon the
reader is married by the polemical tone
which the author adopts in several pla.
ces, by which he does himself an In.
justice, since scholarship and polemics
do not go very well hand in hand; yet,
these passages are comparatively few
in the book which is, on the whole, q
scholarly work, embracing its subject
from all sides and based upon the best
results which modern research and
higher criticism Of ancient Jewish and
Christian literature affords US at pres.
ent.
The book, consisting Of 2S4 pages,
small octave, is divided into five chap
tiers.
The first chapter, entitled 1.-THE