Defining Judaism

"Defining Judaism" illustrates the range of theoretical and practical issues involved in defining Judaism for the purposes of comparative and historical studies. The book is divided into four overlapping sections that all deal, in various ways, with the configuration of 'Judaism' and how this config [...]
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"Defining Judaism" illustrates the range of theoretical and practical issues involved in defining Judaism for the purposes of comparative and historical studies. The book is divided into four overlapping sections that all deal, in various ways, with the configuration of 'Judaism' and how this configuration relates to other historical and/or disciplinary contexts. Texts range from historical attempts to define individual 'Jews' to imagining Judaism as a religion like other religions to modern and post-modern attempts to decenter these earlier definitions. The texts anthologized here are put into context by a comprehensive general introduction, as well as individual introductions to each of the four parts. Although all of the texts collected here are interested in defining Judaism, the theories underpinning their definitions are relevant to anyone interested in the academic study of religion.