Belief, uncertainty and unbelief — Judaism

What the specification asks for

Paper 1, Section 1, 1.6 (Judaism). Assessed on AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (analysis and evaluation), weighted equally. Incandio is aligned to this specification. It is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's indicative content — the point numbers are given so you can check every unit against your own copy.

1 · Understand it

Abraham argues the Almighty down over Sodom — from fifty righteous people to ten — and the text records the negotiation with approval. Notice what that establishes. In this tradition, challenging God is a form of faithfulness, because you only argue with somebody you take to be there and take to be just.

What it means

The specification names two routes to belief and then asks about the routes away from it. The routes to belief are nurture, with particular reference to family life and the synagogue, and the appeal to religious authority in the Torah and Jewish tradition. The routes away are the factors leading to agnosticism and atheism.

Emunah is the Jewish word usually rendered faith, and it is closer to faithfulness in a relationship than to assent to a set of propositions. Covenant is the binding relationship between the Almighty and the Jewish people, and its structure is the key to this whole unit: belonging precedes believing.

Nurture is concrete here rather than vague. The Shema itself commands teaching children, speaking of the commandments at home and on the road, and binding them as a sign — so the mechanism of transmission is written into the central text. The Shabbat table is the primary place of religious formation, and the synagogue is a house of study as much as of prayer.

Questioning is inside the tradition rather than tolerated at its edges. Abraham argues with God about Sodom, Job's protest is not condemned, and the Talmud preserves the losing opinions alongside the accepted ones. And because Jewish status is determined by birth or conversion rather than by belief, a Jew who does not believe in God remains Jewish — which is why secular Jewish identity is coherent rather than contradictory.

Why believers hold it

The reasoning is covenantal. Judaism understands itself as a relationship a person is born into rather than a set of claims a person adopts, which is why belonging can survive doubt and why practice is often the route to belief rather than its consequence. That is a genuinely different structure from a creedal religion, and it explains both the durability of Jewish continuity and the existence of large numbers of unambiguously Jewish people who reject the theology.

It also changes what counts as an argument. A tradition that preserves its own objections — Job in the canon, the rejected opinion in the Talmud — is not asking for unexamined assent, and a learner can use that as evidence rather than as decoration.

The sceptical objection is fair and should be conceded rather than resisted: belief explained by nurture is not belief arrived at by reason, and almost everyone holds the religion of the place they were born. The honest reply is that the same is true of language and of most moral commitments, and that origin does not settle truth in either direction.

The Shoah is the sharpest modern reason for Jewish unbelief, and it will not work as a simple argument in either direction, because it is also the reason many gave for renewed commitment. Jewish responses range from the free-will defence to protest theology to Fackenheim's argument that abandoning Judaism would hand Hitler a posthumous victory. None is comfortable, and the tradition does not pretend otherwise.

Where it comes from

• The Torah; said in daily prayer — Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (the Shema) (translated)

  Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

  The central declaration of Jewish faith — the absolute oneness of God — said morning and evening, written in the mezuzah and the tefillin.

  What it is doing here: Supplies the mechanism of nurture the specification asks about, since it commands the teaching of children and the marking of the house itself.

• The Torah — Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 17:1–14 (translated)

  I will make of you a great nation ... and you shall be a blessing.

  The covenant with Abraham — the promise of descendants and land, and the sign of circumcision (Brit Milah).

  What it is doing here: Establishes belonging as prior to believing, which is what makes doubt survivable and secular Jewish identity coherent.

• The Tanakh — Ketuvim (Writings) — Job 38–42 (esp. 38:4) (translated)

  Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

  God's answer to Job is not an explanation of his suffering but a question about the limits of human understanding.

  What it is doing here: Shows the tradition preserving its own strongest objection rather than answering it, which is evidence about the kind of assent Judaism asks for.

• The structure of the Tanakh — Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim

  Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim — Law, Prophets, Writings.

  The three divisions of the Hebrew scriptures, whose initials give the name Tanakh. The Torah has the highest authority.

  What it is doing here: Locates the authority the specification names, and marks where the traditions divide over how far interpretation carries the same weight.

Where it bites

It shows in the Shabbat table as the primary site of religious formation — the transmission happens over food rather than in a classroom. It shows in the synagogue functioning as a house of study, in Bar and Bat Mitzvah as the public assumption of obligation, and in the fact that a Jewish education is characteristically an education in argument, since the Talmud records the losing view. It also shows in the very ordinary phenomenon of a family keeping Passover without agreeing about God, which the covenantal structure makes possible.

The three movements differ here in a way worth naming: Orthodox Judaism holds Torah divinely given and its authority non-negotiable, Reform holds it divinely inspired and humanly mediated with individual autonomy affirmed, and Conservative Judaism holds the tradition binding while accepting that it develops historically — a distinct position rather than a midpoint.

What people get wrong

People think: Jews are not allowed to question God.

Actually: Abraham argues with God over Sodom and Job protests without being condemned, both inside the canon. Doubt is part of the tradition rather than a departure from it, and a tradition whose Talmud preserves the rejected opinion is not asking for unexamined assent.

People think: A Jew who does not believe in God is not really Jewish.

Actually: Jewish status is determined by birth or conversion rather than by belief, so secular Jewish identity is coherent rather than contradictory. That follows from a covenantal structure in which belonging precedes believing, and it is a real structural difference from a creedal religion.

People think: The six religions plus Humanism make seven options on this course.

Actually: Humanism is a non-religious worldview rather than a seventh religion, and there is no Paper 2 for it; it is examinable content on Paper 1. In this unit the Humanist position is a genuine rival to be engaged with rather than another faith to be listed alongside the others.

What the examiner expects you to understand

• Give nurture concretely through the Shema's command to teach children and through the Shabbat table.
• Name the covenant, because belonging preceding belief is what makes the Jewish answer distinctive.
• Use Abraham or Job as evidence that questioning is inside the tradition rather than outside it.
• Handle the Shoah as a reason for unbelief and for renewed commitment, since it works both ways.
• Treat Humanism as the non-religious position rather than as a seventh religion.

2 · Grade 9 Notes

Core belief / issue

The specification names two routes to belief in Judaism — nurture, with particular reference to family life and the synagogue, and the appeal to religious authority in the Torah and Jewish tradition — and then asks about the factors leading to agnosticism and atheism. Judaism is unusual here: it is a religion in which practice can precede conviction, and in which arguing with God has a long and honoured pedigree.

Key terminology

Incandio's mark schemes credit the religion's own vocabulary; spelling variants are accepted, a vague paraphrase is not.

Emunah (also emuna)

Faith or trust; closer to faithfulness in a relationship than to assent to propositions.

Nurture

Being raised within a faith, which the specification names as a reason people believe.

Covenant

The binding relationship between the Almighty and the Jewish people; belonging precedes believing.

Agnosticism

The position that whether God exists cannot be known.

Atheism

The position that there is no God.

Shoah (also Holocaust)

The Holocaust; for many Jews the central modern reason for doubt.

What Judaism teaches

• shared — Belief is nurtured through family practice and the synagogue: the Shema commands teaching children, speaking of the commandments at home and away, and binding them as a sign.
• shared — The Torah and the tradition of interpretation carry authority, and a Jewish argument characteristically proceeds by citing and disputing texts.
• shared — Questioning is legitimate: Abraham argues with God about Sodom and Job's protest is not condemned, so doubt is inside the tradition rather than outside it.
• divided — Jewish identity does not depend on belief, so a Jew who does not believe in God remains Jewish — and the traditions differ on what that means for practice.
  • Orthodox Judaism — Jewish status is determined by birth or conversion regardless of belief, and observance of the mitzvot remains obligatory.
  • Reform (Progressive) Judaism — Emphasises personal autonomy in belief and practice, and has been most open about the reality of secular Jewish identity.

Why it teaches this

The reasoning is covenantal. Judaism understands itself as a relationship into which a person is born rather than a set of claims a person adopts, which is why belonging can survive doubt and why practice is often the route to belief rather than its consequence. That is a genuinely different structure from a creedal religion, and it explains both the strength of Jewish continuity and the existence of large numbers of secular Jews who are unambiguously Jewish.

Sources of authority

• The Torah; said in daily prayer — Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (the Shema) (translated)

  Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

  The central declaration of Jewish faith — the absolute oneness of God — said morning and evening, written in the mezuzah and the tefillin.

  How to use it: It is belief and practice in one object: the words on the doorpost mean the household's whole life is meant to be lived inside the claim.

  What it does not settle: Uncontested across Jewish traditions, so it distinguishes none of them from another.

• The Tanakh — Ketuvim (Writings) — Job 38–42 (esp. 38:4) (translated)

  Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

  God's answer to Job is not an explanation of his suffering but a question about the limits of human understanding.

  How to use it: The book REFUSES a theodicy, which is itself an answer: a religion can hold that suffering has meaning without claiming to know what it is.

  What it does not settle: It offers no reason for suffering, which is precisely the point and must be presented as such.

• The structure of the Tanakh — Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim

  Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim — Law, Prophets, Writings.

  The three divisions of the Hebrew scriptures, whose initials give the name Tanakh. The Torah has the highest authority.

  How to use it: Knowing that the divisions are ranked explains why a Torah command outweighs a prophetic exhortation in halakhic reasoning.

  What it does not settle: Structure, not interpretation. The Oral Torah's authority is what divides the traditions.

• The Torah — Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 17:1–14 (translated)

  I will make of you a great nation ... and you shall be a blessing.

  The covenant with Abraham — the promise of descendants and land, and the sign of circumcision (Brit Milah).

  How to use it: The covenant is the reason Jewish identity is a relationship rather than a set of opinions, and it is why Brit Milah is a covenantal act and not a custom.

  What it does not settle: The covenant's relation to the land is politically contested and the specification does not require that argument.

Different interpretations

• Nurture read as an argument for belief and read as an explanation of it; the second is what the sceptic means and the specification wants both.
• The Shoah read as decisive against belief and read as the sharpest form of a question Judaism has always asked; both responses are held by Jews and both are examinable.
• Authority read as the Torah's text and read as the whole chain of interpretation; Orthodox and Reform Judaism weight these differently, and it changes what counts as an argument.

Differences within Judaism

The disagreement is about the nature of Torah's authority, and it is the defining difference between the movements. It is not a disagreement about whether Jews may question.

• Orthodox Judaism — Torah is divinely given and its authority is not negotiable; observance is obligatory whatever a person's inward state.
• Reform (Progressive) Judaism — Torah is divinely inspired and humanly mediated; individual autonomy in belief and practice is affirmed.
• Conservative (Masorti) Judaism — Holds the tradition binding while accepting that it develops historically, which is a distinct position rather than a midpoint.

Application to the issue

It shows in the Shabbat table as the primary place of religious formation, in the synagogue as a house of study as much as of prayer, in Bar and Bat Mitzvah as the public assumption of obligation, and in the fact that a Jewish education is characteristically an education in argument — the Talmud preserves the losing opinions.

Arguments supporting

• Practice sustains belief better than argument does. — A religion carried by weekly meals, festivals and study survives generations in which the arguments are not being made. (judaism)
  Answered by: That explains transmission rather than truth, and works equally for a false belief.
• A tradition that preserves the objections is more credible than one that suppresses them. — Job's protest is canonical, and the Talmud records the rejected view alongside the accepted one. (shared)
  Answered by: Recording an objection is not answering it, and the Shoah is the case where the tradition's own answers are least satisfying.

Arguments challenging

• Belief explained by nurture is not belief arrived at by reason. — Almost everyone holds the religion of the place they were born. (non-religious)
  Answered by: The same is true of language and of most moral commitments, and origin does not settle truth either way.
• The Shoah makes belief in a just and powerful God untenable. — Six million, including a million children, in a century of prayer. (non-religious)
  Answered by: Jewish responses range from the free-will defence to protest theology to Fackenheim's argument that abandoning Judaism hands Hitler a posthumous victory; none is comfortable and the tradition does not pretend otherwise.

Secular / non-religious perspective

Atheists point to the absence of evidence, the sufficiency of scientific explanation and the problem of suffering, with the Shoah as the sharpest instance. Agnostics hold the question undecidable. Many secular Jews retain festivals, food and community while rejecting the theology — which is a possibility Judaism's covenantal structure makes available in a way creedal religions do not.

Examinable throughout Paper 1. Nothing here earns a mark on Paper 2.

Evaluation

The hinge: Whether belonging can precede believing. Judaism's covenantal structure says yes, and it is what makes secular Jewish identity coherent rather than contradictory.

Defensible conclusions

• Nurture is the honest answer to why most Jews believe, and saying so is not a concession — every deep commitment is transmitted before it is examined.
• The Shoah is the strongest reason for Jewish unbelief and it is also the reason many gave for renewed commitment, which is why it cannot be used as a simple argument in either direction.
• Judaism's tolerance of doubt is a real strength: a tradition whose canon includes Job and whose Talmud preserves the losing arguments is not asking for unexamined assent.

Not defensible

• Claiming Jews are not permitted to question God, when Abraham and Job do exactly that in the canon.
• Treating secular Jewish identity as a contradiction; Jewish status does not depend on belief.

Exam use

• Identify · 3 marks — Three reasons people believe in God, or three reasons people may become atheists. Short phrases only.
• Outline · 4 marks — Two reasons developed. 'Many Jews believe because of nurture (1) — the Shema commands parents to teach their children, so faith is carried by the family before it is examined (1).'
• Explain · 6 marks — Explain why some Jewish people believe in God: nurture through family and synagogue, the authority of Torah and tradition, and the covenant.
• Evaluate · 12 marks — 'Science explains the world; there is no need for God.' Judaism's covenant framing is a strong reply, because it does not rest on God as an explanation of nature.

Common mistakes

• Treating Humanism as a seventh religion rather than as the non-religious position.
• Claiming Judaism forbids doubt, when the canon contains Abraham's argument and Job's protest.
• Answering about belief in general with no Jewish material, which the grid caps as generic.

“The six religions plus Humanism make seven options on this course.” — Humanism is a non-religious worldview. This specification offers six religions and there is no Paper 2 for Humanism. It is examinable CONTENT on Paper 1, not a route.

Write instead: Paper 1 examines religious and non-religious beliefs together, so Humanist, atheist and agnostic positions are directly creditable there. Paper 2 is religion-specific and has no non-religious equivalent. Where a Paper 1 question asks for non-religious views, a Humanist answer is not merely allowed — it is the only kind that scores.

“Judaism is the Old Testament part of Christianity.” — Judaism is a living religion with its own scriptures, its own two-thousand-year tradition of rabbinic interpretation, and its own account of what God requires. The Tanakh is not the Christian Old Testament in either arrangement or authority.

Write instead: The Tanakh has three divisions — Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim — and is read alongside the Talmud and rabbinic tradition. Jewish teaching about the afterlife, salvation and law is developed on its own terms. The scriptures overlap substantially, and the differences in ordering, canon and interpretation are real. Naming the Tanakh's structure is directly examinable at Paper 2 1.2.

Grade 9 insight

Abraham argues the Almighty down over Sodom — from fifty righteous people to ten — and the text records the negotiation approvingly. A Level 4 answer sees what that establishes: in Judaism, challenging God is a form of faithfulness rather than its opposite, because you only argue with someone you take to be there and take to be just. That is why the Shoah produced protest theology inside Judaism rather than only departures from it.

Carry on through Judaism

• Previous unit: 1.5 · Ultimate reality
• Next unit: 1.7 · The problem of evil and suffering
• Belief, uncertainty and unbelief in the other religions: Buddhism · Christianity · Hinduism · Islam · Sikhism
• Side by side: The principal text and its authority across the six religions — What is the principal text, and what authority does it carry?
• Side by side: Leaders and leadership across the six religions — Who has authority, and where does it come from?
• All of Judaism · Incandio Religious Studies · The 4RS1 specification