Abraham Joshua Heschel's monumental work *Torah min ha-shamayim* reveals a profound personal struggle masked within its scholarly analysis of ancient rabbinic theology. Through pervasive dyadic structures - most notably the paradigmatic opposition between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael - Heschel grapples with fundamental tensions between divine immanence and transcendence, mystical and rational approaches to Torah, and theurgic versus rationalist worldviews. Systematic examination of these binary conceptual frameworks across Heschel's corpus, from early works on Saadia Gaon through *A Passion for Truth*, exposes a consistent preoccupation with reconciling competing theological paradigms. The apparent scholarly objectivity in presenting rabbinic debates belies Heschel's deeply personal negotiation between his Hasidic origins (represented by the Akivan paradigm) and his modern intellectual environment (represented by the Yishmaelian paradigm). Rather than resolve these fundamental oppositions, *Torah min ha-shamayim* functions simultaneously as rigorous historical theology and autobiographical reflection, ultimately advocating for maintaining dialectical tension. This analysis illuminates how modern Jewish thinkers navigate between traditional and contemporary intellectual frameworks, revealing the deeply personal nature of seemingly objective theological scholarship.