God's chosen people : Judaism's most divisive doctrine / Samuel Lebens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lebens, Samuel, author.

Series:

Oxford studies in analytic theology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Election, Doctrine of--Biblical teaching.

Jews.

Jews--Election, Doctrine of--History of doctrines.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

At the heart of the Jewish religion is a doctrine that has proven to be deeply divisive. It claims that the Jewish people have a special relationship with God, that they have been chosen. This teaching has divided Jews and gentiles because it seems to imply a Jewish supremacism. Even within the Jewish world, thinkers have disagreed about its meaning and value. Some Jewish communities have rejected it outright. In 'God's Chosen People', Samuel Lebens seeks to demonstrate that the doctrine is essential to Jewish theology via a wide-ranging journey of original biblical literary analysis, exploration of Midrashic metaphors, Jewish intellectual history, and analytical philosophy.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Series

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Contents

Epigraph

1 Choosing a Theory of Chosenness

1.1 Foundational Assumptions

1.2 Ethical Considerations

1.3 Roadmap

Part I The Biblical Data

2 The Narrative Arc of the Bible

2.1 The Start of the Narrative Arc

2.1.1 Babel and the Flood

2.2 The End of the Narrative Arc

2.3 The Right Sort of Unity

2.4 Conclusion

3 Disarming Difficult Texts

3.1 Biblical Slavery

3.1.1 Concentric Circles of Obligation

3.1.2 A Wrinkle in the Story

3.1.3 Slavery and the Narrative Frame of the Bible

3.2 Disarming Amalek

3.2.1 Amalek as a Symbol

3.2.2 Amalek in Biblical History

3.2.3 The Failure of King Saul

3.3 The Seven Nations, and the Laws of War

3.3.1 What Really Happened?

3.3.2 The Nature of the Problem

3.3.3 The Book of Joshua

3.4 The Midianites

3.5 Conclusions

4 Chosenness in the Book of Genesis

4.1 Was Abram Special?

4.2 The Content of the Election

4.3 To Wrestle with God

4.4 Genesis and the Non-Chosen

4.5 Zooming In: Genesis 12:1-3

4.5.1 Of Homelands and Holy Lands

4.5.2 Resident Alienation

4.5.3 Your Father's House

4.6 Conclusions

5 God's Bride

5.1 A Love Affair with a People

5.2 The Election as an Eternal Marriage

5.3 A Liminal Bride

5.4 Conclusions and New Difficulties

6 A Kingdom of Priests

6.1 The Nature of Holiness

6.1.1 God's Gaze and the Essence of Holiness

6.1.2 A Holy Nation

6.2 The Meaning of Priesthood

6.2.1 The Functions of Priesthood

6.2.2 The Suffering Servant

6.2.2.1 Jeremiah

6.2.2.2 Israel is the Suffering Servant

6.3 Concluding Reflections and Terrible Curses

7 More Biblical Data and Textual Tensions

7.1 The Zechut Avot Model

7.2 Voluntary or Involuntary?

7.3 God's Witnesses

7.4 Exclusive or Non-exclusive?

7.5 Jews and Gentiles at the End of Days

7.6 A Light unto the Nations

7.7 The Seed of Israel

7.8 Is Chosenness Indigenous to Judaism?

8 Summarizing the Election as It Appears in the Hebrew Bible

8.1 Six Questions and Three Models

8.2 Philosophical Questions

8.3 Remaining Tensions

8.4 Mixed Metaphors

8.5 Prioritizing the Genesis Model

Part II The Rabbinic Data

9 Disarming the Rabbis

9.1 Saving Gentile Lives-The Shahak Affair

9.1.1 The Sanctity of Shabbat

9.1.2 Rabbi Unterman's Position

9.1.3 Rabbi Rabinovitch's Position

9.2 Defending the Talmud

9.2.1 The Humanity of Gentiles

9.2.2 Rabbinic Discrimination

9.2.2.1 Lost Property and Interest

9.2.3 Damages to Gentile Property

9.2.4 The Weight of the Tradition

9.3 Ways of Peace

9.3.1 Kindness to Gentiles

9.3.2 Rabbinic and Prophetic Peace

9.3.3 The Confidence of Rabbi Sacks

10 Eternity and History

10.1 Eternal or Historic?

10.1.1 The Cosmic-Eternal School

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (Oxford Academic, viewed on July 1, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Lebens, Samuel. God's chosen people.

ISBN:

9780198994299

019899429X

9780198994275

0198994273

OCLC:

1586813578

Publisher Number:

CIPO000381378