This volume intends to contribute to the nascent discourse on Judaism and ecology by clarifying diverse conceptions of nature in Jewish thought and by using the insights of Judaism to formulate a constructive Jewish theology of nature.
A comprehensive collection of texts that maps out the field of Critical Men's Studies in Religion. It contains 35 key texts that engage with the position of men in society and church, the ideals of masculinity as engendered by religious discourse, and alternative trajectories of being in the world, whether spiritually, relationally or sexually.
A collection of essays which not only surveys the challenges that sexuality poses to Jewish belief, but also offers fresh perspectives and insights on the changing place of sexuality within Jewish theology - and Jewish lives. It covers topics such as monogamy, inter-faith relationships, reproductive technology, and homosexuality.
Because that's my f**king job.'In 1995, a film called I.D., about an ambitious young copper who was sent undercover to track down the `generals' of a football hooligan gang, achieved cult status for its sheer brutality and unsettling insight into the dark and often bloody side of the so-called beautiful game.
Judaism represents a tradition that goes back nearly 6,000 years. This book talks about the stories, beliefs and expressions of that tradition. The key topics covered include: the Torah; Israel - the state and its people; Passover; Reform Judaism, Orthodox Judaism and Zionism; and, the impact of the Holocaust.
'His parting shot at opposing the storm of fanaticism breaking over our times' Financial Times
Dear Zealots is an essential collection of three essays written out of a sense of urgency, concern, and a belief that a better future is still possible.
In AD 70 the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman forces after a 6 month siege, the world-famous temple burnt to the ground. This was the disastrous outcome of a Jewish revolt against Roman domination beginning in AD 66 with high hopes and early success, but soon became mired in factional conflict, at its most extreme within Jerusalem itself.
Christian theology has traditionally been very negative about Judaism. This book argues for a rethink in the light of the evil of the holocaust and offers fresh approaches to issues such as forgiveness and the problem of suffering in the two religions. It states that Christians should not be trying to convert Jews to Christianity.
From Karl Marx to the Marx Brothers Who's Who in Jewish History presents a complete reference guide to over a thousand prominent men and women who have shaped Jewish culture.
Palaces of Time resurrects the seemingly banal calendar as a means to understand early modern Jewish life. Elisheva Carlebach has unearthed a trove of beautifully illustrated calendars, to show how Jewish men and women both adapted to the Christian world and also forged their own meanings through time.
Growing up as a blonde, popular, West Country schoolgirl, the author was the unlikeliest convert to militant Zionism but learning of the cruelty the Jewish people faced throughout history turned her into their biggest champion. In this book, she examines her 40-year obsession with the Jewish people and recounts a love affair.
Shows that the Israeli national myth has its origins in the 19th century, rather than in biblical times when Jewish historians, like scholars in many other cultures, reconstituted an imagined people in order to model a future nation. This book demonstrates the construction of a nationalist myth and the collective mystification that this requires.
Examines how the promised land of Israel has been seen and interpreted differently over the course of Jewish history by those who call it home and by the many other individuals and cultures it has affected.
A collection of sermons by rabbi Harold I. Saperstein, made between 1933 and 1980. This book illustrates the value of the sermon as a resource for understanding the challenges faced by American Jews at some of the most dramatic moments in the turbulent history of the 20th century.
Represents a sample of the most penetrating and provocative scholarly interpretations of Jewish messianic movement from various perspectives- historical, sociological, psychological, and religious.
A guide to the study of Jewish faith. It uses the dimensional approach to the study of religions as an interpretive framework, and focuses on matters perceived as problematic by insider and/or outsider commentators, such as gender, demography, geo-politics, the 'museumisation' of Jewish cultures and its impact on religion and identity.
Features the life, in stories, of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1700-1760), the founder of Hasidism. The Baal Shem Tov, or the Besht, as he is commonly called, led a revival in Judaism that put love and joy at the center of religious life and championed the piety of the common folk against the rabbinic establishment.
An introduction to the Old Testament that not only covers all the key components of most OT courses but also helps students to think for themselves about key issues of interpretation.
Covering the major areas of thought in contemporary Jewish Studies, including considerations of religious differences, sociological, philosophical, and gender issues, geographical diversity, inter-faith relations, and the impact of the Shoah and the state of Israel, this volume is multi-authored guide to contemporary Jewish life and thought.
This book provides a panoramic survey of the responses of over one hundred leading Jewish and Christian Holocaust thinkers. Beginning with the religious challenge of the Holocaust, the collection explores a range of thinking which seek to reconcile God's ways with the existence of evil.
Learning from problems posed by his audiences and his listeners, this work attempts to map out how we can fit common honesty and higher truths together. Focussing on issues that are much simpler than issues in Churches or Synagogues, it is also a consumer's guide to religion.
Discusses the origins of the Jewish Bible. This work recounts the history of the Jewish people from the era of Patriarchs and Prophets through the Middle Ages up to the contemporary era. It outlines the Jewish liturgical calendar and its major rites and modes of worship. It considers the great variety of Jewish literatures, art, food and culture.
Reform Judaism is today one of the three major branches of the Jewish faith. This is a history of the Reform movement, tracing its changing configuration and self-understanding from the beginnings of modernisation in late 18th-century Jewish thought and practice to American renewal in the 1970s.
This expanded version of the classic text on Jewish theology--by the scholar Newsweek called "a genius of the highest order"--demonstrates the contemporary relevance of this proud legacy of the Jewish people