Blackwell Companion to Judaism

Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Research Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida and Professor of Religion at Bard College. He has seven honorary degrees, fourteen academic medals and has published more than 800 books. Alan J. Avery-Peck is Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies at The College of the Holy Cross. His has published widely and is editor of the journal The Annual of Rabbinic Judaism: Ancient, Medieval and Modern.

‘The Blackwell Companion to Judaism is a formidable attempt, in a series of learned and elegant essays, to tackle the many questions concerning Judaism. The organization is commendably lucid. The style throughout is accessible to a wide readership, without sacrifice to standards of accuracy and analysis.’—Times Literary Supplement ‘Where the Companion scores highly over other similar works is that the editors have been able to elicit contributions that contain the latest scholarship or position on each subject, so that the contemporaneity and the quality of each is perfectly dovetailed. This will be the benchmark by which future examples of the genre will be measured.’—The Expository Times ‘I am excited at the prospect of the publication of this book, in that it promises to display the lifelong fruits of research and mature insights of a master scholar on Judaism.’—Kenneth Hart Green, University of Toronto"[T]he contributors place Judaism in historical context, elaborate on its principal doctrines, introduce forms of modern and contemporary Judaism, and shed light on special topics in understanding contemporary Judaism, such as ethics, women theopolitical aspects, secular forms of Jewishness, and Zionism."—Journal of Contemporary Religion"Comparative, comprehensive and highly readable, Matthewes' book provides an overview of religious ethics in three traditions without sacrificing the specificity of each ethical system. The author effortlessly enlightens the reader as to how Judaism, Christianity and Islam deals with highly relevant topics such as family, love, sexuality, lying, war, capital punishment and many more themes in a provocative and graceful manner."—Ebrahim Moosa, Duke University

• Contributors viiiPreface xiiPart I: The History of Judaism 11 Defining Judaism 3Jacob Neusner2. The Religious World of Ancient Israel to 586 BCE 20Marvin A. Sweeney3. Judaism and the Hebrew Scriptures 37Philip R. Davies4. Second Temple Judaism 58Frederick J. Murphy5. The Formation of Rabbinic Judaism, 70-640 C.E 78Guenter Stemberger6. The Canon of Rabbinic Judaism 93Jacob Neusner7. Judaism and Christianity in the Formative Age 112Bruce D. Chilton8. Judaism in the Muslim world 131Sara Reguer9. Judaism in Christendom 142David R. Carr10. Philosophy in Judaism: Two Stances 162Daniel Breslauer  11. Jewish Piety 181Tzvee ZahavyPart II: The Principal Doctrines of Judaism 19112. The Doctrine of Torah 193Jacob Neusner13. The Doctrine of God 212Alan J. Avery-Peck14. The Doctrine of Israel 230Jacob Neusner15. The Doctrine of the Messiah 247William Scott Green and Jed Silverstein16. The Doctrine of Hebrew Language Usage 268David AaronPart III: Modern and Contemporary Judaisms 28917. Reform Judaism 291Dana Evan Kaplan18. Orthodox Judaism 311Benjamin Brown19. Conservative Judaism: The Struggle Between Ideology and Popularity 334Daniel Gordis20. New Age Judaism 354Jeffrey K. SalkinPart IV: Special Topics in Understanding Judaism 37121. Ethics of Judaism 373Elliot N. Dorff22. Women in Contemporary Judaism 393Judith R. Baskin23. Judaism as a Theopolitical Phenomenon 415Daniel J. Elazar24. Contemporary Jewish Theology 441Neil Gillman25. Secular Forms of Jewishness 464Paul Mendes-Flohr26. Judaism and Zionism 477Yosef Gorney27. The "Return" to Traditional Judaism at the End of the Twentieth Century: Cross Cultural Comparisons 495M. Herbert DanzgerAbbreviations 512Index 515