Voltaire's Jews and Modern Jewish Identity

Voltaire's Jews and Modern Jewish Identity
Author: Harvey Mitchell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2012-08-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134002343

Harvey Mitchell’s book argues that a reassessment of Voltaire’s treatment of traditional Judaism will sharpen discussion of the origins of, and responses to, the Enlightenment. His study shows how Voltaire’s nearly total antipathy to Judaism is best understood by stressing his self-regard as the author of an enlightened and rational universal history, which found Judaism’s memory of its past incoherent, and, in addition, failed to meet the criteria of objective history—a project in which he failed. Calling on an array of Jewish and non-Jewish figures to reveal how modern interpretations of Judaism may be traced to the core ideas of the Enlightenment, this book concludes that Voltaire paradoxically helped to foster the ambiguities and uncertainties of Judaism’s future.

The Fractured Jew

The Fractured Jew
Author: Joel West
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2022-05-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004510133

Musician Josh Groban claims that he is not Jewish because of his paternal lineage. Contrariwise, Comedian Tiffany Haddish claims Jewish identity specifically because of similar lineage. Using this contrast as a jumping off point, this book explores how Judaism and Jewishness represent themselves in popular culture.

Voltaire Against the Jews, or The Limits of Toleration

Voltaire Against the Jews, or The Limits of Toleration
Author: Marco Piazza
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2023-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 3031187121

This book challenges Voltaire’s doctrine of toleration. Can a Jew be a philosopher? And if so, at what cost? It seeks to provide an organic interpretation of Voltaire’s attitude towards Jews, problematising the issue against the background of his theory of toleration. To date, no monograph entirely dedicated to this theme has been written. This book attempts to provide an answer to the crucial questions that have emerged in the past fifty years through a process of reading and analysis that starts with the publication of Des Juifs (1756), and ends with the posthumous publication of the apocryphal article ‘Juifs’ in the Kehl edition of the Dictionnaire Philosophique (1784).

The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 7, The Early Modern World, 1500–1815

The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 7, The Early Modern World, 1500–1815
Author: Jonathan Karp
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1154
Release: 2017-11-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 110813906X

This seventh volume of The Cambridge History of Judaism provides an authoritative and detailed overview of early modern Jewish history, from 1500 to 1815. The essays, written by an international team of scholars, situate the Jewish experience in relation to the multiple political, intellectual and cultural currents of the period. They also explore and problematize the 'modernization' of world Jewry over this period from a global perspective, covering Jews in the Islamic world and in the Americas, as well as in Europe, with many chapters straddling the conventional lines of division between Sephardic, Ashkenazic, and Mizrahi history. The most up-to-date, comprehensive, and authoritative work in this field currently available, this volume will serve as an essential reference tool and ideal point of entry for advanced students and scholars of early modern Jewish history.

What Are Jews For?

What Are Jews For?
Author: Adam Sutcliffe
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2020-06-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691188807

Introduction. What are Jews for? history and the purpose question -- Religion, sovereignty, Messianism : Jews and political purpose -- Reason, toleration, emancipation : Jews and philosophical purpose -- Teachers and traders : Jews and social purpose -- Light unto the nations : Jews and national purpose -- Normalization and its discontents : Jews and cultural purpose -- Conclusion. So what are Jews for?

The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism

The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism
Author: Steven Katz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 543
Release: 2022-06-02
Genre: HISTORY
ISBN: 1108494404

One-volume comprehensive collection of new articles on the history, literature and philosophy of antisemitism, for students and non-experts.

Voltaire: A Very Short Introduction

Voltaire: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Nicholas Cronk
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2017-02-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0191512761

Voltaire (1694-1778), best remembered as the author of Candide, is one of the central actors -- arguably the defining personality -- of the European Enlightenment. In this Very Short Introduction, Nicholas Cronk explores Voltaire's remarkable career and demonstrates how his thinking is pivotal to our notion and understanding of the Enlightenment. In a fresh and modern examination of his writings, Cronk examines the nature of Voltaire's literary celebrity, demonstrating the extent to which his work was reactive and practical, and therefore made sense within the broader context of the debates to which he responded. The most famous living author in Europe in the 18th century, Cronk emphasises Voltaire's skills of 'performance' as a writer and his continued relevance today. He concludes by looking not only at Voltaire's impact in literature and philosophy, but also his influence on French political values and modern French politics. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Moses Hirschel and Enlightenment Breslau

Moses Hirschel and Enlightenment Breslau
Author: David Heywood Jones
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2020-10-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030462358

Breslau has been almost entirely forgotten in the Anglophone sphere as a place of Enlightenment. Moreover, in the context of the Jewish Enlightenment, Breslau has never been discussed as a place of intercultural exchange between German-speaking Jewish, Protestant and Catholic intellectuals. An intellectual biography of Moses Hirschel offers an excellent case-study to investigate the complex reciprocal relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish enlighteners in a prosperous and influential Central European city at the turn of the 18th century.

"The Tragic Couple"

Author: James Bernauer
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2013-11-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004260374

The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) has become a leader in the dialogue between Jews and Catholics as was manifested in the role that the Jesuit Cardinal Augustin Bea played in the adoption by the Second Vatican Council of Nostra Aetate, the charter for that new relationship. Still the encounters between Jesuits and Jews were often characterized by animosity and this historical record made them a tragic couple, related but estranged. This volume is the first examination of the complex interactions between Jesuits and Jews from the early modern period in Europe and Asia through the twentieth century where special attention is focused on the historical context of the Holocaust.

The Jew in the Modern World

The Jew in the Modern World
Author: Paul R. Mendes-Flohr
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 772
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780195074536

The last two centuries have witnessed a radical transformation of Jewish life. Marked by such profound events as the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel, Judaism's long journey through the modern age has been a complex and tumultuous one, leading many Jews to ask themselves not only where they have been and where they are going, but what it means to be a Jew in today's world. Tracing the Jewish experience in the modern period and illustrating the transformation of Jewish religion, culture, and identity from the 17th century to 1948, the updated edition of this critically acclaimed volume of primary materials remains the most complete sourcebook on modern Jewish history. Now expanded to supplement the most vital documents of the first edition, The Jew in the Modern World features hitherto unpublished and inaccessible sources concerning the Jewish experience in Eastern Europe, women in Jewish history, American Jewish life, the Holocaust, and Zionism and the nascent Jewish community in Palestine on the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel. The documents are arranged chronologically in each of eleven chapters and are meticulously and extensively annotated and cross-referenced in order to provide the student with ready access to a wide variety of issues, key historical figures, and events. Complete with some twenty useful tables detailing Jewish demographic trends, this is a unique resource for any course in Jewish history, Zionism and Israel, the Holocaust, or European and American history.