| | The notion of man as "God's partner" appears, one way or another, in most varieties of Judaism over the past 2000+ years (beginning in post-Biblical ethical/legal/other sources, e.g., the Talmud).
Quite a few Jewish sermons, for instance, have used the following story to illustrate the notion, as an example of the attitude we ought to have towards the Universe and what we can/should do therein:
A man working in his garden greets a passing stranger (in many versions, a minister or other Christian) who admires the property and says: "Isn't it great that God gives the world such beautiful places as this?" ... to this, the property-owner replies: "You wouldn't say that if you'd seen the place five years ago, when God had it all to himself."
( I presume that Obama's speechwriters do a bit of reading to find what phrases will impress this or that audience: "God's partners" tends to move an audience of rabbis -- or other informed Jews -- much more than it would move an audience of, say, Baptist ministers.)
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As part of his campaign to rally religious support for his health-care plan, Obama reportedly told a group of rabbis, "We are God's partners in matters of life and death." God's partners? During the election campaign, Obama notoriously dodged a question on abortion by demurring that the theology of the issue was "above my pay grade." Well, apparently he's been promoted.
