Judaisms

"An introductory textbook that examines how Jews are a culture, ethnicity, nation, nationality, race, and religion. With each chapter revolving around a single theme--Narratives, Sinais, Zions, Messiahs, Laws, Mysticisms, Cultures, Movements, Genocides, Powers, Borders, and Futures--this introductory textbook interrogates readers' understanding of the Jewish community. Written for a new mode of teaching--one that recognizes the core role that identity formation plays in our lives--this book weaves together alternative, marginalized voices to illustrate how Jews have always been in the process of reshaping their customs, practices, and beliefs. Judaisms is the first book to assess and summarize Jewish history from the time of the Hebrew Bible through today using multiple perspectives"--Provided by publisher.

In its approach to evidence, not harmonizing but analyzing and differentiating, this book marks a revolutionary shift in the study of ancient Judaism and Christianity.

In this book von Wahlde provides an exploration of three distinct cultural and religious backgrounds against which scholars have frequently proposed that the Gospel and Letters of John are to be read and understood. von Wahlde examines each of these three possibilities in turn, and shows how they may be regarded as plausible or implausible depending upon the evidence available. von Wahlde shows that there are features within the Gospel and/or Letters of John that do in fact suggest that they were influenced either by Gnosticism, Docetism or one of the variant forms of Judaism. However, in each case, while some of the evidence suggests a particular background, von Wahlde shows that it is equally evident that not all of the evidence can be seen to suggest the same background. Through an examination of the origins and purpose of the gospel, and drawing on the conclusions of his well-regarded commentary on the Johannine literature, von Wahlde presents a new way of understanding the Gospel in its wider contexts.

Provides sociological analyses of religious developments and identities in both historical and contemporary Jewish communities.

Second volume documenting Rabbinic Judaism in its formative age.

In this the third edition of Jacob Neusner's basic, accessible, and proven guide to the world's religions as they are practiced in America, new chapters explore the Church of Scientology, Nature Religions, and the Baha'i faith. In addition, the chapter on Islam in America has been expanded. Each chapter includes study questions, essay topics, and suggestions for further reading.

The "Review of Rabbinic Judaism," the first and only annual to focus upon Rabbinic Judaism in particular, will publish principal articles, essays on method and criticism, systematic debates ("Auseindersetzungen"), occasional notes, long book reviews, reviews of issues of scholarly journals, assessments of textbooks and instructional materials, and other media of academic discourse, scholarly and educational alike. The "Review" fills the gap in the study of Judaism, which is left by the prevailing division of Rabbinic Judaism among the standard historical periods (ancient, medieval, modern) that in fact do not apply; and by the common treatment of the Judaism in bits and pieces (philosophy, mysticism, law homiletics, institutional history, for example). No annual in "Jewish studies" focuses upon the study of religion, let alone upon the single most important Judaism of all time.

A magisterial history, ranging from antiquity to the present, that reveals anti-Judaism to be a mode of thought deeply embedded in the Western tradition. There is a widespread tendency to regard anti-Judaism – whether expressed in a casual remark or implemented through pogrom or extermination campaign – as somehow exceptional: an unfortunate indicator of personal prejudice or the shocking outcome of an extremist ideology married to power. But, as David Nirenberg argues in this ground-breaking study, to confine anit-Judaism to the margins of our culture is to be dangerously complacent. Anti-Judaism is not an irrational closet in the vast edifice of Western thought, but rather one of the basic tools with which that edifice was constructed.