Comparative perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish identities / Stephen Sharot.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sharot, Stephen.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Judaism--History.

Judaism.

Judaism--Comparative studies.

Jews--Identity.

Jews.

Ethnicity.

Ethnic relations.

Judaism--Relations.

Messianic Judaism.

Antinomianism--History of doctrines.

Antinomianism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (332 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Detroit : Wayne State University Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Provides sociological analyses of religious developments and identities in both historical and contemporary Jewish communities. In Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities author Stephen Sharot uses his work published in journals and collected volumes over the past thirty-five years to examine a range of Jewish communities across both time and geography. Sharot's sociological analyses consider religious developments and identities in diverse Jewish communities from Imperial China and Renaissance Italy to contemporary Israel and the United States. As Sharot examines these groups, other religions enter into the discussion as well, not only as major elements in the environments of Jewish communities but also with respect to certain religious phenomena that too have been present in Judaism. The book is divided into four parts: the first compares religious developments in pre-modern and early modern Jewish communities; the second focuses on Jewish religious movements, especially messianic-millennial and antinomian, in the pre-modern and early modern period; the third examines Jewish religious and ethnic identities in the modern period; and the fourth relates developments in Judaism in the modern period to theoretical debates on secularization, fundamentalism, and public religion in the sociology of religion. The afterword sums up the findings of the previous sections and compares the boundaries and boundary shifts among Jewish communities. As the plural "Judaisms" in the title indicates, Sharot discusses extensive differences in the religious characteristics between Jewish communities. Scholars of religion and sociology will appreciate this informative and fascinating volume.

Contents:

Religious syncretism and religious distinctiveness

The Kaifeng Jews : a reconsideration of their acculturation and assimilation in a comparative perspective

Elite religion and popular religion : the example of saints

Jewish millenarian-messianic movements : comparisons of Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Italian Jews

Millenarianism among conversos (new Christians) and former conversos (returnees to Judaism)

The sacredness of sin : antinomianism and models of man

Formulations of ethnicity and religion regarding American Jews in the writings of American sociologists

Judaism and Jewish ethnicity : changing interrelationships and differentiations in the diaspora and Israel

Jewish and other national and ethnic identities of Israeli Jews

Secularization, neotraditionalism, polarization

Public religion, privatization, and deprivatization in Israel.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780814337011

0814337015

OCLC:

821735174