Does Judaism Condone Violence

Author : Alan L. Mittleman
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2018-08-28
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780691184326

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Does Judaism Condone Violence? by Alan L. Mittleman Pdf

A philosophical case against religious violence We live in an age beset by religiously inspired violence. Terms such as “holy war” are the stock-in-trade of the evening news. But what is the relationship between holiness and violence? Can acts such as murder ever truly be described as holy? In Does Judaism Condone Violence?, Alan Mittleman offers a searching philosophical investigation of such questions in the Jewish tradition. Jewish texts feature episodes of divinely inspired violence, and the position of the Jews as God’s chosen people has been invoked to justify violent acts today. Are these justifications valid? Or does our understanding of the holy entail an ethic that argues against violence? Reconstructing the concept of the holy through a philosophical examination of biblical texts, Mittleman finds that the holy and the good are inextricably linked, and that our experience of holiness is authenticated through its moral consequences. Our understanding of the holy develops through reflection on God’s creation of the natural world, and our values emerge through our relations with that world. Ultimately, Mittleman concludes, religious justifications for violence cannot be sustained. Lucid and incisive, Does Judaism Condone Violence? is a powerful counterargument to those who claim that the holy is irrational and amoral. With philosophical implications that extend far beyond the Jewish tradition, this book should be read by anyone concerned about the troubling connection between holiness and violence.

Author : Roberta Rosenberg Farber,Simcha Fishbane
Publisher : Studies in Judaism
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Religion
ISBN : UVA:X030109704

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Jewish Studies in Violence by Roberta Rosenberg Farber,Simcha Fishbane Pdf

This collection of essays was compiled in response to the proliferation of violence throughout the modern world. They constitute a multi-disciplinary approach to the intersection of violence with Jewish life and thought. Examined are ancient and modern examples of violence from the perspectives of Jewish studies, philosophy, history, psychology and sociology. Topics include the philosophical and psychological dimensions of violence and terror in Israel; religious Zionism; an overview of Jewish Law; religious societies in antiquity; anti-Semitism among American workers during World War II; British anti-Semitic symbolism; violence in Canadian Jewish communal life; issues of conscription in Britain during war time; and spousal abuse. In conclusion, David Shatz provides a Jewish perspective on the events of 9/11, followed by an examination of the halakhic response to the problem of evil by Moshe Sokol.

Author : Naomi Graetz
Publisher : Jason Aronson
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : UOM:39015051987793

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Silence is Deadly by Naomi Graetz Pdf

The topic of battered women in the Jewish tradition has just begun to be properly explored. The purpose of this book is to present the attitudes on wifebeating that can be found in Jewish texts. As Naomi Graetz shows, rabbinic responses to wifebeating in the Jewish community are not monolithic.

Author : J. Harold Ellens
Publisher : Greenwood
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Psychology
ISBN : UVA:X004741836

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The Destructive Power of Religion by J. Harold Ellens Pdf

This extensive series explores themes including the seeds of violence in Biblical interpretation, human sacrifice in the Old Testament, violent religious metaphors, the violent messiah, linguistic and psychoanalytic approaches to religious themes, the jihad in context and in the Qur'an, fundamentalism and violence, and the psychoreligious roots of violence.

Author : Robert Eisen
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 75 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2021-09-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1108940676

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Judaism and Violence by Robert Eisen Pdf

This Element explores the potential in Judaism to incite Jews to engage in violence against non-Jews. The analysis proceeds in historical fashion, with sections devoted to the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic Judaism, medieval and early modern Judaism, and modern Zionism. The last topic is given special attention because of its relevance to the current Middle East conflict. This Element also draws on insights from social psychology to explain Jewish violence - particularly Social Identity Theory.

Author : Alan Mittleman
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780198796497

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Holiness in Jewish Thought by Alan Mittleman Pdf

Holiness is a challenge for contemporary Jewish thought. The concept of holiness is crucial to religious discourse in general and to Jewish discourse in particular. Holiness seems to express an important feature of religious thought and of religious ways of life. Yet the concept is ill defined. This collection explores what concepts of holiness were operative in different periods of Jewish history and bodies of Jewish literature and offers preliminary reflections on their theological and philosophical import today. The contributors illumine some of the major episodes concerning holiness in the history of the development in the Jewish tradition. They are challenged to think about the problems and potential implicit in Judaic concepts of holiness, to make them explicit, and to try to retrieve the concepts for contemporary theological and philosophical reflection. Not all of the contributors push into philosophical and theological territory, but they all provide resources for the reader to do so. Holiness is elusive but it need not be opaque. This volume makes Jewish concepts of holiness lucid, accessible, and intellectually engaging.

Author : John Renard
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-31
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780520274198

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Fighting Words by John Renard Pdf

One of the critical issues in interreligious relations today is the connection, both actual and perceived, between sacred sources and the justification of violent acts as divinely mandated. Fighting Words makes solid text-based scholarship accessible to the general public, beginning with the premise that a balanced approach to religious pluralism in our world must build on a measured, well-informed response to the increasingly publicized and sensationalized association of terrorism and large-scale violence with religion. In his introduction, Renard provides background on the major scriptures of seven religious traditions—Jewish, Christian (including both the Old and New Testaments), Islamic, Baha’i, Zoroastrian, Hindu, and Sikh. Eight chapters then explore the interpretation of select facets of these scriptures, focusing on those texts so often claimed, both historically and more recently, as inspiration and justification for every kind of violence, from individual assassination to mass murder. With its nuanced consideration of a complex topic, this book is not merely about the religious sanctioning of violence but also about diverse ways of reading sacred textual sources.

Author : Alan L. Mittleman
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2015-04-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781400865789

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Human Nature & Jewish Thought by Alan L. Mittleman Pdf

What Jewish tradition can teach us about human dignity in a scientific age This book explores one of the great questions of our time: How can we preserve our sense of what it means to be a person while at the same time accepting what science tells us to be true—namely, that human nature is continuous with the rest of nature? What, in other words, does it mean to be a person in a world of things? Alan Mittleman shows how the Jewish tradition provides rich ways of understanding human nature and personhood that preserve human dignity and distinction in a world of neuroscience, evolutionary biology, biotechnology, and pervasive scientism. These ancient resources can speak to Jewish, non-Jewish, and secular readers alike. Science may tell us what we are, Mittleman says, but it cannot tell us who we are, how we should live, or why we matter. Traditional Jewish thought, in open-minded dialogue with contemporary scientific perspectives, can help us answer these questions. Mittleman shows how, using sources ranging across the Jewish tradition, from the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud to more than a millennium of Jewish philosophy. Among the many subjects the book addresses are sexuality, birth and death, violence and evil, moral agency, and politics and economics. Throughout, Mittleman demonstrates how Jewish tradition brings new perspectives to—and challenges many current assumptions about—these central aspects of human nature. A study of human nature in Jewish thought and an original contribution to Jewish philosophy, this is a book for anyone interested in what it means to be human in a scientific age.

Author : William Lane Craig
Publisher : Crossway
Page : 418 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781433501159

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Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig Pdf

This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.

Author : Elliott Horowitz
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2018-06-26
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780691190396

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Reckless Rites by Elliott Horowitz Pdf

Historical accounts of Jewish violence--particularly against Christians--have long been explosive material. Some historians have distorted these records for anti-Semitic purposes. Others have discounted, dismissed, or simply ignored the evidence, often for apologetic purposes. In Reckless Rites, Elliott Horowitz takes a new and forthright look at both the history of Jewish violence since late antiquity and the ways in which generations of historians have grappled with that history. In the process, he has written the most wide-ranging book on Jewish violence in any language, and the first to fully acknowledge and address the actual anti-Christian practices that became part of the playful, theatrical violence of the Jewish festival of Purim. He has also examined the different ways in which the book of Esther, upon which the festival is based, was used by Jews and Christians over the centuries--whether as an ancient mirror of modern tribulations or as the scriptural basis for anti-Semitic claims regarding the bloodthirstiness of the Jews. Reckless Rites reassesses the historical interpretation of Jewish violence--from the alleged massacre of thousands of Christians in seventh-century Jerusalem to later medieval attacks on Christian symbols such as the crucifix, transgressions that were often committed in full knowledge that their likely consequence would be death. A book that calls for major changes in the way that Jewish history is written and conceptualized, Reckless Rites will be essential reading for scholars and students of history, religion, and Jewish-Christian relations.

Author : Robert Eisen
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2011-02-09
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0199751471

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The Peace and Violence of Judaism:From the Bible to Modern Zionism by Robert Eisen Pdf

Religious violence has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. Robert Eisen provides the first comprehensive analysis of Jewish views on peace and violence by examining texts in five major areas of Judaism - the Bible, rabbinic Judaism, medieval Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and modern Zionism. He demonstrates that throughout its history, Judaism has consistently exhibited ambiguity regarding peace and violence.To make his case, Eisen presents two distinct analyses of the texts in each of the areas under consideration: one which argues that the texts in question promote violence toward non-Jews, and another which argues that the texts promote peace. His aim is to show that both readings are valid and authentic interpretations of Judaism. Eisen also explores why Judaism can be read both ways by examining the interpretive techniques that support each reading.The Peace and Violence of Judaism will be an essential resource not only for students of Judaism, but for students of other religions. Many religions exhibit ambiguity regarding peace and violence. This study provides a model for analyzing this important phenomenon.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 450 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2020-07-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789004434684

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Violence in the Hebrew Bible by Anonim Pdf

In Violence in the Hebrew Bible scholars reflect on texts of violence in the Hebrew Bible, as well as their often problematic reception history. Authoritative texts and traditions can be rewritten and adapted to new circumstances and insights. Texts are subject to a process of change. The study of the ways in which these (authoritative) biblical texts are produced and/or received in various socio-historical circumstances discloses a range of theological and ideological perspectives. In reflecting on these issues, the central question is how to allow for a given text’s plurality of possible and realised meanings while also retaining the ability to form critical judgments regarding biblical exegesis. This volume highlight that violence in particular is a fruitful area to explore this tension.

Author : Jonathan Boyarin
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2020-10-06
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780691207698

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Yeshiva Days by Jonathan Boyarin Pdf

An intimate and moving portrait of daily life in New York's oldest institution of traditional rabbinic learning New York City's Lower East Side has witnessed a severe decline in its Jewish population in recent decades, yet every morning in the big room of the city's oldest yeshiva, students still gather to study the Talmud beneath the great arched windows facing out onto East Broadway. Yeshiva Days is Jonathan Boyarin's uniquely personal account of the year he spent as both student and observer at Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem, and a poignant chronicle of a side of Jewish life that outsiders rarely see. Boyarin explores the yeshiva's relationship with the neighborhood, the city, and Jewish and American culture more broadly, and brings vividly to life its routines, rituals, and rhythms. He describes the compelling and often colorful personalities he encounters each day, and introduces readers to the Rosh Yeshiva, or Rebbi, the moral and intellectual head of the yeshiva. Boyarin reflects on the tantalizing meanings of "study for its own sake" in the intellectually vibrant world of traditional rabbinic learning, and records his fellow students' responses to his negotiation of the daily complexities of yeshiva life while he also conducts anthropological fieldwork. A richly mature work by a writer of uncommon insight, wit, and honesty, Yeshiva Days is the story of a place on the Lower East Side with its own distinctive heritage and character, a meditation on the enduring power of Jewish tradition and learning, and a record of a different way of engaging with time and otherness.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:949202629

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The Destructive Power of Religion by Anonim Pdf

Author : Lawrence H. Schiffman,Joel B. Wolowelsky
Publisher : KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
Page : 604 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0881259454

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War and Peace in the Jewish Tradition by Lawrence H. Schiffman,Joel B. Wolowelsky Pdf

"With focus centered on the United States' involvement in Iraq and Israel's ongoing war with terrorism, the sixteenth annual meeting of the Orthodox Forum in March 2004 took up the question of War, Peace, and the Jewish Tradition, the papers of which are published here."--BOOK JACKET.