- Summary
- For much of the twentieth century, most religious and secular Jewish thinkers believed that they were witnessing a steady, ongoing movement toward secularization. Toward the end of the century, however, as scholars and pundits began to speak of the global resurgence of religion, the normalization of secularism could no longer be considered inevitable. Recent decades have seen the strengthening of Orthodox movements in the United States and in Israel; religious Zionism has grown and radically changed since the 1960s, and new and vibrant nondenominational Jewish movements have emerged. Secularism in Question examines the ways these contemporary revivals of religion prompt a reconsideration of many issues concerning Jews and Judaism from the early modern era to the present. Bringing together scholars of history, religion, philosophy, and literature, this volume illustrates how the categories of "religious" and "secular" have frequently proven far more permeable than fixed. The contributors challenge the problematic assumptions about the development of secularism that emerge from Protestant European and American perspectives and demonstrate that global Jewish experiences necessitate a reappraisal of conventional narratives of secularism. Ultimately, Secularism in Question calls for rethinking the very terms that animate many of the most contentious debates in contemporary Jewish life and far beyond.--Amazon.com.
- Series
- Jewish culture and contexts
Jewish culture and contexts.
- Format
- Book
- Published
- ©2015
Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2015]
- Contents
-
Rethinking Jews and secularism / Ari Joskowicz and Ethan Katz
"Our Rabbi Baruch" : Spinoza and radical Jewish enlightenment / Daniel B. Schwartz
Reading Mendelssohn in late Ottoman Palestine : an Islamic theory of Jewish secularism / Jonathan Marc Gribetz
Tradition and the hidden: Hannah Arendt's secularization of Jewish mysticism / Vivian Liska
Messianism without messiah : messianism, religion, and secularization in modern Jewish thought / Christoph Schulte
In the name of the devil : reading Walter Benjamin's "Agesilaus Santander" / Galili Shahar
The secular and its dissonances in modern Jewish literature / Michal Ben-Horin
Civil society, secularization, and modernity among Jews in turn-of-the-century Eastern Europe / Scott Ury
Secular French nationhood and its discontents : Jews as Muslims and religion as race in occupied France / Ethan Katz
Galician Haskalah and the discourse of Schwärmerei / Rachel Manekin
Secularism and neo-orthodoxy : conflicting strategies in Modern Orthodox fiction / Eva Lezzi
Secularism and nationalism : the modern halakhic discourse on the identity and boundaries of the Jewish community / Arye Edrei
Between supersessionism and atavism : toward a neo-secular view of religion / David N. Myers
Secularism, the Christian ambivalence toward the Jews, and the notion of exile / Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin
"Eleven calendars" : beyond secular time / Andrea Schatz.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Joskowicz, Ari, editor.
Katz, Ethan, editor, author.
- Notes
-
Includes index.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Rethinking Jews and secularism / Ari Joskowicz and Ethan Katz -- "Our Rabbi Baruch" : Spinoza and radical Jewish enlightenment / Daniel B. Schwartz -- Reading Mendelssohn in late Ottoman Palestine : an Islamic theory of Jewish secularism / Jonathan Marc Gribetz -- Tradition and the hidden: Hannah Arendt's secularization of Jewish mysticism / Vivian Liska -- Messianism without messiah : messianism, religion, and secularization in modern Jewish thought / Christoph Schulte -- In the name of the devil : reading Walter Benjamin's "Agesilaus Santander" / Galili Shahar -- The secular and its dissonances in modern Jewish literature / Michal Ben-Horin -- Civil society, secularization, and modernity among Jews in turn-of-the-century Eastern Europe / Scott Ury -- Secular French nationhood and its discontents : Jews as Muslims and religion as race in occupied France / Ethan Katz -- Galician Haskalah and the discourse of Schwärmerei / Rachel Manekin -- Secularism and neo-orthodoxy : conflicting strategies in Modern Orthodox fiction / Eva Lezzi -- Secularism and nationalism : the modern halakhic discourse on the identity and boundaries of the Jewish community / Arye Edrei -- Between supersessionism and atavism : toward a neo-secular view of religion / David N. Myers -- Secularism, the Christian ambivalence toward the Jews, and the notion of exile / Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin -- "Eleven calendars" : beyond secular time / Andrea Schatz.
