Is Judaism a religion, a culture, a nationality--or a mixture of
all of these? In "How Judaism Became a Religion," Leora Batnitzky
boldly argues that this question more than any other has driven
modern Jewish thought since the eighteenth century. This
wide-ranging and lucid introduction tells the story of how Judaism
came to be defined as a religion in the modern period--and why
Jewish thinkers have fought as well as championed this idea.
Ever since the Enlightenment, Jewish thinkers have debated
whether and how Judaism--largely a religion of practice and public
adherence to law--can fit into a modern, Protestant conception of
religion as an individual and private matter of belief or faith.
Batnitzky makes the novel argument that it is this clash between
the modern category of religion and Judaism that is responsible for
much of the creative tension in modern Jewish thought. Tracing how
the idea of Jewish religion has been defended and resisted from the
eighteenth century to today, the book discusses many of the major
Jewish thinkers of the past three centuries, including Moses
Mendelssohn, Abraham Geiger, Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Zvi
Yehuda Kook, Theodor Herzl, and Mordecai Kaplan. At the same time,
it tells the story of modern orthodoxy, the German-Jewish
renaissance, Jewish religion after the Holocaust, the emergence of
the Jewish individual, the birth of Jewish nationalism, and Jewish
religion in America.
More than an introduction, "How Judaism Became a Religion"
presents a compelling new perspective on the history of modern
Jewish thought.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!