Judaism was a civilization: Toward a reconstruction of ancient Jewish peoplehood
Contemporary scholars of ancient Judaism struggle to describe Jewishness, recognizing that ancient Jewish concepts of social collectivity do not fully correspond with modern understandings of ethnicity, nationality, race, or even religion. But despite current efforts, categorical anachronism may be...
| Published in: | Religion compass |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2018]
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| In: |
Religion compass
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Kaplan, Mordecai M. 1881-1983, Judaism as a civilization
/ Jews
/ People
/ Identity
/ Categorization
/ Civilization
/ History 300 BC-200
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| RelBib Classification: | AA Study of religion AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BH Judaism HD Early Judaism KBL Near East and North Africa |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Contemporary scholars of ancient Judaism struggle to describe Jewishness, recognizing that ancient Jewish concepts of social collectivity do not fully correspond with modern understandings of ethnicity, nationality, race, or even religion. But despite current efforts, categorical anachronism may be inherently inescapable. Scholars should therefore evaluate modern descriptive terms based on their analytic utility. By this standard, scholars would do well to consider embracing an obviously anachronisticbut nevertheless utilitarianterm to understand ancient Jewishness: peoplehood. Mordecai Kaplan's conceptions of civilization and peoplehood were developed as conscious rejections of more limited (and Protestant) understandings of religion. Kaplan proposed a more nuanced understanding of Jewishness, straddling the same divides (between ethnicity, nationality, and religion) that confound scholars of ancient Judaism today. Kaplan's understanding of the Jewish civilizationland, language, folkways, sanctions, institutions, and artspresents a striking (if inexact) articulation of the way scholars of ancient Judaism discern Jewishness in our ancient evidence. This in turn justifies utilizing peoplehood as an analytic category for the understanding of ancient Jewishness. |
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| ISSN: | 1749-8171 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion compass
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/rec3.12286 |