The Boundaries of Judaism

The Boundaries of Judaism PDF Author: Donniel Hartman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441106979
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book

Book Description
The factionalism and denominationalism of modern Jewry makes it supremely difficult to create a definition of the Jewish people. Instead of serving as a uniting force around which community is formed, Judaism has itself become a source of divisions. Consequently, attempts to identify beliefs or practices essential for membership in the Jewish people are almost doomed to failure.Aiming to take readers beyond the divisions that characterize modern Jewry, this book explores the ever contentious question of "who is a Jew." Through a historical survey of the shifting boundaries of Jewish identity and deviance over time, the book provides new insights into how Jewish law over the centuries has erected boundaries to govern and maintain the collective identity of the Jewish people. Drawing on these historical strategies the book identifies the causes and reasons that underlie them, and employs these in order to help construct a guide for creating a structure of boundaries relevant for contemporary Jewish existence.

The Boundaries of Judaism

The Boundaries of Judaism PDF Author: Donniel Hartman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441106979
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book

Book Description
The factionalism and denominationalism of modern Jewry makes it supremely difficult to create a definition of the Jewish people. Instead of serving as a uniting force around which community is formed, Judaism has itself become a source of divisions. Consequently, attempts to identify beliefs or practices essential for membership in the Jewish people are almost doomed to failure.Aiming to take readers beyond the divisions that characterize modern Jewry, this book explores the ever contentious question of "who is a Jew." Through a historical survey of the shifting boundaries of Jewish identity and deviance over time, the book provides new insights into how Jewish law over the centuries has erected boundaries to govern and maintain the collective identity of the Jewish people. Drawing on these historical strategies the book identifies the causes and reasons that underlie them, and employs these in order to help construct a guide for creating a structure of boundaries relevant for contemporary Jewish existence.

Boundaries of Jewish Identity

Boundaries of Jewish Identity PDF Author: Susan A Glenn
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295800836
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book

Book Description
The subject of Jewish identity is one of the most vexed and contested issues of modern religious and ethnic group history. This interdisciplinary collection draws on work in law, anthropology, history, sociology, literature, and popular culture to consider contemporary and historical responses to the question �Who and what is Jewish?� These essays are focused especially on the issues of who creates the definitions, and how, and in what social and political contexts. The ten leading authorities writing here also look at the forces, ranging from new genetic and reproductive technologies to increasingly multicultural societies, that push against established boundaries. The authors examine how Jews have imagined themselves and how definitions of Jewishness have been established, enforced, challenged, and transformed. Does being a Jew require religious belief, practice, and formal institutional affiliation? Is there a biological or physical aspect of Jewish identity? What is the status of the convert to another religion? How do definitions play out in different geographic and historical settings? What makes Boundaries of Jewish Identity distinctive is its attention to the various Jewish �epistemologies� or ways of knowing who counts as a Jew. These essays reveal that possible answers reflect the different social, intellectual, and political locations of those who are asking. This book speaks to readers concerned with Jewish life and culture and to audiences interested in religious, cultural, and ethnic studies. It provides an excellent opportunity to examine how Jews fit into an increasingly diverse America and an increasingly complicated global society.

Boundaries, Identity and belonging in Modern Judaism

Boundaries, Identity and belonging in Modern Judaism PDF Author: Maria Diemling
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317662970
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Get Book

Book Description
The drawing of boundaries has always been a key part of the Jewish tradition and has served to maintain a distinctive Jewish identity. At the same time, these boundaries have consistently been subject to negotiation, transgression and contestation. The increasing fragmentation of Judaism into competing claims to membership, from Orthodox adherence to secular identities, has brought striking new dimensions to this complex interplay of boundaries and modes of identity and belonging in contemporary Judaism. Boundaries, Identity and Belonging in Modern Judaism addresses these new dimensions, bringing together experts in the field to explore the various and fluid modes of expressing and defining Jewish identity in the modern world. Its interdisciplinary scholarship opens new perspectives on the prominent questions challenging scholars in Jewish Studies. Beyond simply being born Jewish, observance of Judaism has become a lifestyle choice and active assertion. Addressing the demographic changes brought by population mobility and ‘marrying out,’ as well as the complex relationships between Israel and the Diaspora, this book reveals how these shifting boundaries play out in a global context, where Orthodoxy meets innovative ways of defining and acquiring Jewish identity. This book is essential reading for students and scholars of Jewish Studies, as well as general Religious Studies and those interested in the sociology of belonging and identities.

The Beginnings of Jewishness

The Beginnings of Jewishness PDF Author: Shaye J. D. Cohen
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520226933
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 444

Get Book

Book Description
This is a study of the notion of Jewishness from c. 200 BCE to c. 200 CE. Reasonable and well-informed people disputed whether a given person was Jewish or not; Cohen opens by discussing just such an argument, about Herod the Great.

The Soul of Judaism

The Soul of Judaism PDF Author: Bruce D. Haynes
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479811238
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Get Book

Book Description
Explores the full diversity of Black Jews, including bi-racial Jews of both matrilineal and patrilineal descent; adoptees; black converts to Judaism; and Black Hebrews and Israelites, who trace their Jewish roots to Africa and challenge the dominant western paradigm of Jews as white and of European descent. The book showcases the lives of Black Jews, demonstrating that racial ascription has been shaping Jewish selfhood for centuries. It reassesses the boundaries between race and ethnicity, offering insight into how ethnicity can be understood only in relation to racialization and the one-drop rule. Within this context, Black Jewish individuals strive to assert their dual identities and find acceptance within their communities. Putting to rest the notion that Jews are white and the Black Jews are therefore a contradiction, the volume argues that we cannot pigeonhole Black Hebrews and Israelites as exotic, militant, and nationalistic sects outside the boundaries of mainstream Jewish thought and community life. it spurs us to consider the significance of the growing population of self-identified Black Jews and its implications for the future of American Jewry.

Earliest Christianity within the Boundaries of Judaism

Earliest Christianity within the Boundaries of Judaism PDF Author: Alan Avery-Peck
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004310339
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 501

Get Book

Book Description
Top scholars of early Christianity and Judaism consider methodological issues, earliest Christianity’s Judaic setting, Gospel studies, and the emergence of later Christianity. These essays honor Bruce Chilton, recognizing his seminal contribution to the study of earliest Christianity in its Judaic setting.

Judaism and Islam: Boundaries, Communication and Interaction

Judaism and Islam: Boundaries, Communication and Interaction PDF Author: Benjamin Hary
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004453156
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 486

Get Book

Book Description
Several years ago an international conference was held at the University of California to honor Professor William Brinner, whose personal scholarship throughout the years has focused on both the Jewish and Muslim historical, cultural, and intellectual experiences. This volume, which consists of the works of many of the conference participants, is a collection of essays that deal with the interaction of Judaism and Islam over history from different perspectives. The book is divided into nine parts: introduction, overview, Jewish-Muslim interaction in medieval times, Jewish-Muslim interaction in modern times, Bible and Qur'ān, law, philosophy and ethics, sectarian communities, and language, linguistics and literature. As a resolution the Arab-Israeli conflict slowly edges forward, we believe that this publication will serve the purposes of both serious scholarship and better cultural understanding.

The Way of the Boundary Crosser

The Way of the Boundary Crosser PDF Author: Gershon Rabbi Winkler Ph. D.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742545106
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 302

Get Book

Book Description
The Way of the Boundary Crosser, by highly regarded rabbi and author Gershon Winkler, offers us an in-depth understanding of the teachings of Jewish tradition that challenges the notion that there is only one way to be Jewish, and that allows ample room for alternatives in Jewish theology, observance, and law.

Passing Over Easter

Passing Over Easter PDF Author: Shoshanah Feher
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
ISBN: 9780761989530
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book

Book Description
Chosen by Yahweh, saved by Jesus, Messianic Jews identify themselves as both Christian and Jewish and yet neither. Passing Over Easter brings this peculiar movement to life with an ethnographic look at Adat HaRauch, a Messianic Jewish congregation in Southern California. The ethnic Jews who have "found the Lord," the Gentiles with a "heart for Israel" that make up Adat HaRauch negotiate their identity borrowing from both traditions. The congregants see Yshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) as the Jewish Messiah, the passover matzoh as symbolic of Yshua's body being broken for sinners, the New Testament as a fulfillment of the Old. Through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and reflections on her own beliefs and role as researcher, Feher paints a fascinating picture of this fluctuating religious group. Passing Over Easter makes a compelling read for sociologists concerned with new religious movements and group formation, students of Jewish identity and Jewish-Christian relations and anyone interested in the contemporary American religious scene.

Crossing Boundaries in Early Judaism and Christianity

Crossing Boundaries in Early Judaism and Christianity PDF Author: Kimberley Stratton
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004334491
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Get Book

Book Description
This volume is a memorial volume in honor of Alan F. Segal, featuring essays by renowned scholars of late ancient and Hellenistic Judaism, early Christianity, Gnosticism and Rabbinic Judaism.