Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities

by Stephen Sharot

Overview

Provides sociological analyses of religious developments and identities in both historical and contemporary Jewish communities.

In Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities author Stephen Sharot uses his work published in journals and collected volumes over the past thirty-five years to examine a range of Jewish communities across both time and geography. Sharot’s sociological analyses consider religious developments and identities in diverse Jewish communities from Imperial China and Renaissance Italy to contemporary Israel and the United States. As Sharot examines these groups, other religions enter into the discussion as well, not only as major elements in the environments of Jewish communities but also with respect to certain religious phenomena that too have been present in Judaism.

The book is divided into four parts: the first compares religious developments in pre-modern and early modern Jewish communities; the second focuses on Jewish religious movements, especially messianic-millennial and antinomian, in the pre-modern and early modern period; the third examines Jewish religious and ethnic identities in the modern period; and the fourth relates developments in Judaism in the modern period to theoretical debates on secularization, fundamentalism, and public religion in the sociology of religion. The afterword sums up the findings of the previous sections and compares the boundaries and boundary shifts among Jewish communities.

As the plural "Judaisms" in the title indicates, Sharot discusses extensive differences in the religious characteristics between Jewish communities. Scholars of religion and sociology will appreciate this informative and fascinating volume.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814334010
Publisher:	Wayne State University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2010
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Stephen Sharot holds the Chilewich Family Chair in Social Integration and is professor of sociology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. He is also the author of Messianism, Mysticism, and Magic and A Comparative Sociology of World Religions.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Part 1 Wide Comparisons, Within and Without

Introduction to Part 1 3

1 Religious Syncretism and Religious Distinctiveness 10

2 The Kaifeng Jews: A Reconsideration of Their Acculturation and Assimilation in a Comparative Perspective 42

3 Elite Religion and Popular Religion: The Example of Saints 58

Afterword to Part 1 80

Part 2 Religious Movements

Introduction to Part 2 85

4 Jewish Millenarian-Messianic Movements: Comparisons of Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Italian Jews 91

5 Millenarianism Among Conversos (New Christians) and Former Conversos (Returnees to Judaism) 105

6 The Sacredness of Sin: Antinomianism and Models of Man 123

Afterword to Part 2 139

Part 3 Jewish Identities

Introduction to Part 3 145

7 Formulations of Ethnicity and Religion Regarding American Jews in the Writings of American Sociologists 151

8 Judaism and Jewish Ethnicity: Changing Interrelationships and Differentiations in the Diaspora and Israel 167

9 Jewish and Other National and Ethnic Identities of Israeli Jews 183

Afterword to Part 3 197

Part 4 Judaism in the Sociology of Religion

Introduction to Part 4 201

10 Secularization, Neotraditionalism, Polarization 206

11 Public Religion, Privatization, and Deprivatization in Israel 232

Afterword to Part 4 253

A Final Afterword-Boundaries: Comparisons and Shifts 257

Notes 263

Index 313

Editorial Reviews

Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities makes a unique contribution, building on but not duplicating Sharot's earlier work. There is no comparable work that covers all of these periods and particular cases."

professor of sociology at Rowan University - Harriet Hartman