Response to modernity : a history of the Reform Movement in Judaism / Michael A. Meyer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meyer, Michael A.

Series:

Studies in Jewish history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reform Judaism--History.

Reform Judaism.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvi, 494 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1988.

Summary:

Although Reform Judaism is one of the major branches of the Jewish faith and a crucial phenomena in modern history, it has not, until now, received comprehensive, up-to-date historical study. Filling a critical gap in Jewish scholarship, Michael Meyer traces the development of the movement from its origins in the late 18th-century, through recent events such as the renewal of American Reform Judaism in the 1970s. With great range, extensive archival research, and colorful detail, Meyer sympathetically, yet judiciously, chronicles the spread of Reform Judaism across Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia, France, England, and America. Demonstrating the influence of modernity, Protestant Christianity, Darwinism, and disputes over Zionism, this book places the Reform segment firmly within its religious, social, political, and intellectual context, to provide historians, religious leaders, and the general reader with an essential historical record.

Contents:

Preface : considerations of historiography

Prologue : the question of precedents

Adapting Judaism to the modern world

Ideological ferment

Growth and conflict on German soil

European diffusion

Consolidation and further advance

America : the Reform movement's land of promise

"Classical" Reform Judaism

Reorientation

An international movement

The new American Reform Judaism

Epilogue : in quest of continuity

Appendix : the platforms of American Reform Judaism.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 395-477) and index.

National Jewish Book Awards - Jewish History, Winner, 1989

Local Notes:

Acc.#203471

Other Format:

Online version: Meyer, Michael A. Response to modernity.

ISBN:

019505167X

9780195051674

0195063422

9780195063424

OCLC:

16352455

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description