The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture

Front Cover
Judith R. Baskin, Kenneth Seeskin
Cambridge University Press, Jul 12, 2010 - History - 539 pages
The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture is a comprehensive and engaging overview of Jewish life, from its origins in the ancient Near East to its impact on contemporary popular culture. The twenty-one essays, arranged historically and thematically, and written specially for this volume by leading scholars, examine the development of Judaism and the evolution of Jewish history and culture over many centuries and in a range of locales. They emphasize the ongoing diversity and creativity of the Jewish experience. Unlike previous anthologies, which concentrate on elite groups and expressions of a male-oriented rabbinic culture, this volume also includes the range of experiences of ordinary people and looks at the lives and achievements of women in every place and era. The many illustrations, maps, timeline, and glossary of important terms enhance this book's accessibility to students and general readers.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
2 The Second Temple Period
34
3 The Rabbinic Movement
58
4 The Jewish Experience in the Muslim World
85
5 Jewish Life in Western Christendom
113
6 Jews and Judaism in Early Modern Europe
140
 18001933
169
8 Jews and Judaism in the United States
208
 Gender Marriage and the Lives of Women
357
15 Jewish Philosophy
381
16 Jewish Mysticism
399
17 Modern Jewish Thought
424
18 Contemporary Forms of Judaism
445
19 Jewish Popular Culture
465
20 Aspects of Israeli Society
486
21 The Future of World Jewish Communities
494

9 The Shoah and Its Legacies
233
10 The Founding of Modern Israel and the ArabIsraeli Conflict
258
11 Judaism as a Religious System
288
12 The Centrality of Talmud
311
13 Jewish Worship and Liturgy
337
Glossary
511
Timeline
519
Index
523
Copyright

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About the author (2010)

Judith R. Baskin is Knight Professor of Humanities and Associate Dean for Humanities at the University of Oregon. Her books include Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature and Pharaoh's Counselors: Job, Jethro, and Balaam in Rabbinic and Patristic Tradition, and she is editor of Jewish Women in Historical Perspective and Women of the Word: Jewish Women and Jewish Writing. She also served as sub-editor for post-biblical entries for The Torah: A Women's Commentary, which received the National Jewish Book Awards 2008 Jewish Book of the Year. Kenneth Seeskin is Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University. He is the author of Maimonides on the Origin of the World, which was selected by Choice as one of the outstanding books in the humanities for 2006, and Searching for a Distant God: The Legacy of Maimonides, which won the Koret Jewish Book Award in 2000; he is also editor of The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides. He has received several teaching awards, including the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University, Illinois.

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