The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies (Oxford Handbooks in Religion and Theology) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198299966 ISBN 13: 9780198299967

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2002

Synopsis

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies is part of a major new series of Oxford Handbooks. The volume on Jewish Studies reflects the aim of the series to produce distinctive and original surveys of today's interests and directions in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The Handbook covers all the main areas currently taught and researched as part of Jewish Studies in universities throughout the world, especially in Europe, the United States, and Israel. The span of the volume chronologically and geographically is thus enormous, but all contributors have in common their expertise in the study of the history, literature, religion, and culture of the Jews.

Jewish Studies is a comparatively young discipline which has grown over the past fifty years in a somewhat undisciplined way. In a period of great upheaval for Jews following the Holocaust, the creation of the State of Israel, the emergence of new forms of dialogue between Jews and Christians, deepening divisions between secular and religious Jews, and unprecedented assimilation by diaspora Jews to the wider culture, the study of Jewish traditions and history has rarely been dispassionate. This is a good time to examine where we are and where the subject is going.

There have been some attempts in recent years to encapsulate current conclusions about particular aspects of Jewish Studies, but these other works aim to provide compendia of agreed facts rather than a survey of interests and directions such as is found in the Oxford Handbook.

The Handbook begins with an examination of Jewish Studies as an academic discipline in its own right. The first half of the volume is organized chronologically, followed by sections on languages and literature, general aspects of religion, and other branches of Jewish Studies which have each accumulated a considerable corpus of scholarship over the past half-century.

This substantial volume of c. 400,000 words reflects the current state of scholarship as analysed by an international team of experts in the different and varied fields represented within contemporary Jewish Studies.

About this title

Review

impressive and highly useful volume... The remarkably large coverage of this volume reflects a broad conception of Jewish Studies, which will make it particularly useful to those looking for an introduction to fields they do not know... The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies is a very timely, very welcome, and very useful publication, which will introduce order into our perception of this heterogeneous field and help structure it as well. (Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism)

...an excellent introduction to the contemporary academic study of Judaism and everything related to it. (Religion and Theology)

This is a splendid book ... All those setting up a course in one or more of the thirty-nine areas covered in this handbook now have clear introductory essays to put on their reading lists. (George J. Brooke, Journal of Semitic Studies)

... an excellent reference book. (The Database of Jewish Education Materials)

... a helpful and generally up-to-date work of reference. (The Journal of Theological Studies)

... Jewish studies scholars will welcome a work that enables them to find out everything they wanted to know, along with a whole lot of things they didn't know they wanted to know and about which they will now be able to hold intelligent conversations. In all, highly recommended. (Jewish Chronicle)

... undergraduates could not wish for a more reliable and helpful volume. (Jewish Chronicle)

... the book will principally be of interest to academics and university students ... the overall standard of essays is extremely high. (Jewish Chronicle)

... as a state-of-the-art exploration of Jewish studies, this book is of seminal importance. (The Church Times)

... this volume is a vital reference source, and will be of enormous benefit to undergraduates, graduates, and interested readers. (The Church Times)

About the Author

Martin Goodman is Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Oxford Jeremy Cohen is Professor of Jewish Studies, Tel Aviv University David Sorkin is Professor of Jewish History, University of Wisconsin

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0198299966
• ISBN 13: 9780198299967
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 1052
• Editor: Goodman Martin