Judaism III: Culture and Modernity (RM Die Religionen der Menschheit)

Description

Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic religions, is one of the pillars of modern civilization. A collective of internationally renowned experts cooperated in a singular academic enterprise to portray Judaism from its transformation as a Temple cult to its broad contemporary varieties. In three volumes the long-running book series "Die Religionen der Menschheit" (Religions of Humanity) presents for the first time a complete and compelling view on Jewish life now and then - a fascinating portrait of the Jewish people with its ability to adapt itself to most different cultural settings, always maintaining its strong and unique identity. Volume III completes this ambitious project with profound chapters on Modern Jewish Culture, Halakhah (Jewish Law), Jewish Languages, Jewish Philosophy, Modern Jewish Literature, Feminism and Gender, and on Judaism and inter-faith relations. Cover Titlepage Imprint Content Foreword 1 Die Wissenschaft des Judentums 2 World War II and Vatican II 3 Jacob Neusner resets the agenda 4 Martin Hengel, Judentum und Hellenismus (Judaism and Hellenism) 5 The New Academy 6 Kohlhammer’s Die Religionen der Menschheit Jewish engagement(s) with Modern Culture 1 The challenges of modernization 2 Hopes of belonging and experiences of rejection 3 From Berlin to Tel Aviv and Los Angeles: The internationalisation of Jewish modernity 4 After the Holocaust: Has modernity betrayed Jewish culture? For further reading Halakhah (Jewish Law) in Contemporary Judaism 1 Napoleon and the Functioning of Jewish Law in Enlightenment Countries 2 Jewish Legal Theories in Response to Living in Countries with Freedom of Religion 3 The Authority of Jewish Law 4 Jewish Identity: Who Is a Jew? 5 Moral Issues: Bioethics 5.1 The Beginning of Life: Generating Pregnancy 5.2 The Beginning of Life: Preventing Pregnancy 6 Moral Issues: Interpersonal Relations 7 Moral Issues: Social Justice and Environmental Ethics 8 Jewish Dietary Laws (Kashrut, or the Kosher Laws) 9 The Life Cycle 10 Marriage and Weddings 11 The Seasonal Cycle: The Sabbath, High Holy Days, and Festivals 12 A Gift of Love For further reading Languages of the Jews Prolegomenon 1 Mono-, Bi-, and Multilingualism 2 Hebrew 2.1 Ancient Hebrew 2.2 Postbiblical Hebrew 2.3 Rabbinic or Mishnaic Hebrew 2.4 From Ancient Hebrew to Medieval, Sephardic Hebrew 2.5 Ashkenazic Hebrew 2.6 Israeli Hebrew 3 Aramaic 3.1 Imperial Aramaic 3.2 Jewish-Palestinian Aramaic 3.3 Christian-Palestinian Aramaic 3.4 Jewish-Babylonian Aramaic 3.5 Jewish neo-Aramaic dialects 4 Greek 5 Judeo-Arabic 6 Ladino 7 Yiddish 7.1 The Origins of Yiddish 7.2 A Language with many Dialects 7.3 From Jewish-German to Yiddish 7.4 The Yiddish of the Pious 8 Judeo-Persian 9 Conclusion For further reading Jewish Philosophy and Thought 1 The Concept of »Jewish Philosophy« 2 Between Palestine and Babylon: Philosophical Potential in Traditional Literature (2nd to 11th cent.) 3 Hellenistic Judaism: Alexandria 4 Under Islam in the East: Baghdad and Kairouan 5 Under Islam in the West: al-Andalus 6 Under Christianity in the West: Southern France, Spain, Italy 7 Ottoman Empire: Thessaloniki, Istanbul 8 The Reconfiguration of »Jewish Philosophy« in the Context of Modernity: Amsterdam, Berlin Haskalah, and Wissenschaft des Judentums 9 Jewish Diaspora and Israeli Thought after the Holocaust For further reading Modern Jewish Literature 1 Concept 2 Pioneers and Beginnings 3 On »German-Jewish Literature« 4 Yiddish Literature 5 English-language Literature 6 Hebrew Literature 7 Drama 8 Lyric Poetry For further reading Judaism, Feminism, and Gender 1 1970s Jewish Feminism: Coming out Fighting 2 1980s: Toward Finding the Right Question(s) 3 1990s: Coming of Age: Jewish Feminism and »(En)gendering« Jewish Studies 3.1 Feminist Scholarship; Gender and Jewish Studies 3.2 Jewish Women’s Writings: Memoirs and Midrash; Commentaries and Anthologies 3.3 Bridges, Feminist Organizations and Social Justice Work 4 21st Century: »New« Jewish Feminism 5 Conclusion For further reading Judaism and inter-faith relations since World War II 1 Historic overview 2 Jewish-Christian Dialogue 2.1 Beginnings 2.2 The World Council of Churches until Sigtuna (1988) 2.3 Articulating a Jewish Response 2.4 The Roman Catholic Church 2.5 The World Council of Churches after Sigtuna (1988) 2.6 Individual non-Roman Churches 2.7 Orthodox Churches and the Demise of Communism 2.8 Some Recent Statements 2.9 Israel and Interfaith Dialogue 2.10 Jewish Responses 3 Other Religions 3.1 Dialogue with Islam 3.2 Non-Abrahamic Religions 4 New Horizons: Scholars and Theologians 4.1 Covenant Theology 4.2 New Theologies: Feminism, Liberation, Creation 4.3 The Global Context of Dialogue 4.4 Academic Developments 4.5 Dialogue Moulds Theology 5 The Popularization and Secularization of Dialogue 6 Conclusion For further reading Index 1 Sources 1.1 Biblical Sources 1.2 Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha 1.3 Rabbinic Sources 2 Names 3 Keywords