A well-written, expertly researched collection of essays on Jewish history and issues.
Jewish scholars and rabbis provide an intellectual history of their faith in this nonfiction anthology.
“Often Jewish history is approached with assumptions about origins, and historicity is quickly assigned to events,” writes Hochman. The editor seeks to offer a more nuanced timeline of Jewish history that explores pivotal moments of “disruption” that challenged the way the faithful approached their theology, history, and future. Indeed, as Davids argues in the book’s introduction, “the path from the ancient Middle East to contemporary liberal Judaism is most certainly neither linear nor predetermined.” Arranged chronologically, the collection’s 21 chapters are divided into five parts, beginning with essays that center on momentous events detailed in Jewish Scripture, including “disruptive prophets” like Nathan, who publicly called out King David’s sins during the 587 B.C.E. Babylonian siege of Jerusalem and destruction of the First Temple. Parts 2 and 3 survey disruptions and the corresponding intellectual responses within the faith, including Pauline Christian theology and developments in the medieval era. The anthology’s final two sections, which form over half of the volume’s pages, focus on the modern and postmodern eras, from the origins of Reform Judaism in the 1800s to contemporary issues surrounding Jewish feminism and the centrality of the Holocaust to 20th- and 21st-century Jewish identity. In addition to Davids (who has published extensively on liberal Zionism) and Hochman (who directs the Louchheim School for Judaic Studies at HUC-JIR), the engrossing book boasts an impressive lineup of more than 20 Jewish scholars and rabbis who have not only an expertise in Jewish intellectual traditions, but also display a sensitivity toward contemporary issues associated with race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Each cogent chapter is accompanied by a wealth of scholarly footnotes. While clearly written in the context of Liberal, Reform, and Progressive Judaism, the rigorous anthology avoids the common pitfall of viewing innovation as inherently good, reminding readers that Jewish responses to disruptions were not monolithic or sudden and that “precious continuity” may be as important as progress.
A well-written, expertly researched collection of essays on Jewish history and issues.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0881236095
Page Count: 362
Publisher: Central Conference of American Rabbis Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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