The Jewish Spiritual Path The Way of the Name

There is a leading belief in Kabbalah that the Tetragrammaton, the four lettered Hebrew name of God, serves as a model for the ideal of spiritual living. Each letter of the Name corresponds to a certain aspect of God and a specific phase of spiritual growth. At the same time, the four letters correspond to the four stages of the traditional Jewish morning prayer. This prayer serves as a spiritual exercise through which a person may cultivate the spiritual virtues associated with each of the four letters of God’s Name. Joshua Golding combines a theoretical presentation of Kabbalistic concepts with practical guidance rooted in prayer to cultivate a deep spirituality based on the moral and mystical teachings of Judaism. The Jewish spiritual Path provides both an extended commentary on prayer and an intellectually rigorous spiritual self-help book.

Joshua Lewis Golding is a Professor of Philosophy specializing in Philosophy of Religion and Jewish Philosophy at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. He has held research positions at the Hebrew University, University of Haifa, and the University of Notre Dame and is the author of The Conversation and Rationality and Religious Theism. Dr. Golding has written articles in Religious Studies, Faith and Philosophy, Modern Schoolman, Tradition, and Torah U-Maddah Journal, as well as a number of book reviews and encyclopedia entries.