Judaic Technologies of the Word: A Cognitive Analysis of Jewish Cultural Formation

by Gabriel Levy

Overview

Judaic Technologies of the Word argues that Judaism does not exist in an abstract space of reflection. Rather, it exists both in artifacts of the material world - such as texts - and in the bodies, brains, hearts, and minds of individual people. More than this, Judaic bodies and texts, both oral and written, connect and feed back on one another. Judaic Technologies of the Word examines how technologies of literacy interact with bodies and minds over time. The emergence of literacy is now understood to be a decisive factor in religious history, and is central to the transformations that took place in the ancient Near East in the first millennium BCE. This study employs insights from the cognitive sciences to pursue a deep history of Judaism, one in which the distinctions between biology and culture begin to disappear.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317543442
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/14/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Gabriel Levy is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and is co-editor of Judaism and Emotion: Texts, Performance, Experience.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. What is Cognition? 2. Control 3. Network 4. Rationality 5. Names 6. Hypertext 7. Environment Conclusion Bibliography Index