The origins of Jewish secularization in eighteenth-century Europe / Shmuel Feiner ; translated by Chaya Naor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Feiner, Shmuel.

Series:

Jewish culture and contexts.

Jewish culture and contexts

Standardized Title:

Shorshe ha-ḥilun. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Haskalah.

Judaism and secularism--Europe--History--18th century.

Judaism and secularism.

Jews--Intellectual life--18th century.

Jews.

Judaism--Europe--History--18th century.

Judaism.

Jews--Europe--Identity--18th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (347 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Throughout the eighteenth century, an ever-sharper distinction emerged between Jews of the old order and those who were self-consciously of a new world. As aspirations for liberation clashed with adherence to tradition, as national, ethnic, cultural, and other alternatives emerged and a long, circuitous search for identity began, it was no longer evident that the definition of Jewishness would be based on the beliefs and practices surrounding the study of the Torah. In The Origins of Jewish Secularization in Eighteenth-Century Europe Shmuel Feiner reconstructs this evolution by listening to the voices of those who participated in the process and by deciphering its cultural codes and meanings. On the one hand, a great majority of observant Jews still accepted the authority of the Talmud and the leadership of the rabbis; on the other, there was a gradually more conspicuous minority of "Epicureans" and "freethinkers." As the ground shifted, each individual was marked according to his or her place on the path between faith and heresy, between devoutness and permissiveness or indifference. Building on his award-winning Jewish Enlightenment, Feiner unfolds the story of critics of religion, mostly Ashkenazic Jews, who did not take active part in the secular intellectual revival known as the Haskalah. In open or concealed rebellion, Feiner's subjects lived primarily in the cities of western and central Europe-Altona-Hamburg, Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Breslau, and Prague. They participated as "fashionable" Jews adopting the habits and clothing of the surrounding Gentile society. Several also adopted the deist worldview of Enlightenment Europe, rejecting faith in revelation, the authority of Scripture, and the obligation to observe the commandments. Peering into the synagogue, observing individuals in the coffeehouse or strolling the boulevards, and peeking into the bedroom, Feiner recovers forgotten critics of religion from both the margins and the center of Jewish discourse. His is a pioneering work on the origins of one of the most significant transformations of modern Jewish history.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Introduction Sins and Doubts

PART I. Liberty and Heresy, 1700-1760

Chapter 1 Pleasures and Liberation from Religious Supervision

Chapter 2 Temptations of Fashion and Passion

Chapter 3 The Mystical Sect: Subversive Sabbateans

Chapter 4 The Rationalist Sect: Neo-Karaites and Deists

PART II. A New World, 1760-80

Chapter 5 Providence Is Tested: Secularization on the Rise in the 1760's

Chapter 6 The Supremacy of Nature: Deists on the Margins

Chapter 7 The Emergence of the New World

PART III. The Overturned World, 1780-90

Chapter 8 Scandals and Rebellions

Chapter 9 Replacing Mosaic Laws with Laws of Freedom

PART IV. Anxieties and Confrontations, 1790-1800

Chapter 10 On the Decline of Judaism: The Last Decade

Chapter 11 Soon Our Faith Will Be Lost: Deists and Believers

Summary Free Jews and the Origins of Secularization

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781283890472

128389047X

9780812201895

0812201892

OCLC:

794925530