Judaism and Crisis

Crisis as a Catalyst in Jewish Cultural History. Edited by Armin Lange, K. F. Diethard Römheld, and Matthias Weigold.

In their long history, Jews encountered political, social, cultural, and religious crises which threatened not only their very existence but Jewish identity as well. Examples for such crises include the Babylonian Exile, the so-called Hellenistic Religious reforms, the first and second Jewish war, the inquisition, and the Shoah, but also the encounter of modernity or socio-economic developments. Political, cultural, and religious crises did not coin Jewish culture, thought, and religion but forced Jews from the very beginnings of Judaism until today to rethink and shape their Jewish identity anew. This volume asks how Jews coped with events that threatened Jewish existence, culture, and religion and how they responded to them. Each crisis was different in nature and evoked hence different developments in Jewish culture, thought, and religion. With 16 contributions (four of which are in German) by Heinz-Josef Fabry, Rainer Kessler, Eric M. Meyers et al. 340 Seiten, gebunden (Schriften des Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum; Vol. 9/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2011) leichte Lagerspuren/minor shelfwear