ABSTRACT
Religious naturalism is rich in intellectual resources, but it is lacking in models for personal development, within a lived tradition. The Reform movement, from its beginnings in Germany, has included leaders and thinkers who eschewed supernaturalism. For example, Israel Jacobson, sometimes called the founder of the Reform movement, to maintain decorum, banned "superstitious" customs such as breaking a glass at weddings. Nothing less than a naturalistic reconstruction of Judaism was the project of Mordecai Kaplan, possibly the most influential naturalist voice in American Jewry. Kaplan felt that the continuation of Jewish civilization requires a God-idea, whose significance derives from the conduct it leads to, not its specific theological expression. As Reconstructionism is associated with Mordecai Kaplan, so Humanistic Judaism is molded in the image of its founder, Sherwin Wine. A robust religious naturalism, with the focus on nature, includes humanity as an integral part of nature.
