- Summary
- Many scholars of the modern Jewish identity focus on the ways in which the past two centuries have resulted in the loss of Jewishness: through "assimilation," intermarriage, conversion to other faiths, genocide (in the Holocaust), and decline in religious observance. In this work, author Frederick S. Roden presents a decidedly different perspective: that the changes in Judaism throughout the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in a malleable, welcoming, and expanded Jewish identity one that has benefited from intermarriage and converts to Judaism. The book examines key issues in the modern definition of Jewish identity: who is and is not considered a Jew, and why; issues of Jewish "authenticity"; and the recent history of the debate. Attention is paid to the experiences of individuals who came to Judaism from outside the tradition: through marrying into Jewish families and/or choosing Judaism as a religion. In his consideration of the tragedy of the Holocaust, the author examines how a totalitarian regime's racial policing of Jewish identity served to awaken a connection with and reconfiguration of what that Jewish identity meant for those who retrospectively realized their Jewishness in the postwar era.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Roden, Frederick S., 1970- author.
- Published
- Santa Barbara : Praeger, [2016]
©2016
- Contents
-
Introduction: Authentically Jewish?: of Marranos, Mischlinge, and Gerim.
Part one: The making of modern Jewish identity: "race" versus "religion" and the mission of Judaism. Jews and modernity: German and American contexts
The development of a reform theology and practice
The mission of Judaism: proselytism and conversion at the turn of the century.
Part two: Moderninty refined: Nazism's ethnic and cultural legacies. Mischlingkeit: Nazi racial law and the invention of mixed identity
Contested identities and Christian representations
Recluctant awakenings: imperatives to Jewishness.
Part three: Post-Holocaust Jewish identities. Being and believing in the aftermath of the Shoah
The new proselytes and "Jews by choice": from mission of Israel to missionary Judaism
Turns and returns to Judaism: modern and postmodern possibilities.
Epilogue: Revisiting "the Jew" and "the other."
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-270) and index.
Introduction: Authentically Jewish?: of Marranos, Mischlinge, and Gerim. -- Part one: The making of modern Jewish identity: "race" versus "religion" and the mission of Judaism. Jews and modernity: German and American contexts -- The development of a reform theology and practice -- The mission of Judaism: proselytism and conversion at the turn of the century. -- Part two: Moderninty refined: Nazism's ethnic and cultural legacies. Mischlingkeit: Nazi racial law and the invention of mixed identity -- Contested identities and Christian representations -- Recluctant awakenings: imperatives to Jewishness. -- Part three: Post-Holocaust Jewish identities. Being and believing in the aftermath of the Shoah -- The new proselytes and "Jews by choice": from mission of Israel to missionary Judaism -- Turns and returns to Judaism: modern and postmodern possibilities. -- Epilogue: Revisiting "the Jew" and "the other."
