Half Jewish, Just Jewish, and the Oddities of Religious Identification
Drawing on recent sociological studies, this article shows the complexity of Jewish identifications in the United States. It discusses five criteria for identifying who is a Jew: halakhah, Reform and Reconstructionist criteria, certain strands of Christian theology, ethnicity or race, and genetics....
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society at Creighton University
2016
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| In: |
Journal of religion & society. Supplement
Year: 2016, Volume: 13, Pages: 76-89 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Drawing on recent sociological studies, this article shows the complexity of Jewish identifications in the United States. It discusses five criteria for identifying who is a Jew: halakhah, Reform and Reconstructionist criteria, certain strands of Christian theology, ethnicity or race, and genetics. Then it shows how, when American Jews think about their own Jewishness, they slide among these criteria, notwithstanding the contradictions among them. Studying American Jews, then, shows the ways that religion, ethnicity, race, and genetics are profoundly but often invisibly entangled. It concludes by suggesting that attention to this entanglement will help illuminate not only Jews but many others in the American religious landscape. |
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| ISSN: | 1941-8450 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion & society. Supplement
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