Conflicting attitudes to conversion in Judaism, past and present / Isaac Sassoon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sassoon, I. S. D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Old Testament--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Bible. Old Testament.

Conversion--Biblical teaching.

Conversion.

Conversion--Judaism.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xv, 272 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Evidence suggests that conversion originated during the Babylonian Exile. Around the same time, biological genealogy was gaining popularity, especially among priests whose legitimacy was becoming increasingly defined by 'pure' pedigree. When the biological, or ethnic, criterion is extended to the definition of Jewishness, as it seems to have been by Ezra, the possibility of conversion is all but precluded. The Rabbis did not reject the primacy of genealogy, yet were also heirs to a strong pro-conversion tradition. In this book, Isaac Sassoon confronts the tensions and paradoxes apparent in rabbinic discussions of conversion, and argues that they resulted from irresolution between the two conflicting traditions. He also contends that attitudes to conversion can impact not only one's conception of Judaism but also on one's faith, as seems to be demonstrated by authors cited in the book whose espousal of a narrowly ethnic view of Judaism allows for a nepotistic theology.

Contents:

Hillel and Shammai

Philologizing 'ger'

Metaphoric blood

Ethnicity's apotheosis

A hackneyed myth

David's sons

Priesthood

A post-exilic Passover

Priesthoods under the microscope

Moses the first-born

Were converts a caste apart?

Holiness and haughtiness

Seed of doubt

Rites of passage

A quirky blockbuster

Maimonides

Warder Cresson

Canaanites redux.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9781108416306

1108416306

OCLC:

989038628