Jewish Secularity The Search for Roots and the Challenges of Relevant Meaning [Hardcover]

A growing number of Jews identify themselves as secular or somewhat secular. Is this expansive definition of Jewishness a new phenomenon? What are its roots? This insightful book provides an overview of a profound development in the evolving history of Jewish life in America.A growing number of Jews identify themselves as secular or somewhat secular. Is this expansive definition of Jewishness a new phenomenon? What are its roots? What are its implications for the Jewish community, its institutions, and its future? In reflecting on secular forms of Jewishness, the contributors to this book explore the sources of Jewish secularism and its articulation in Jewish thought, belief, literature, and culture. Included in this book are several personal accounts of Jewish journeys, as well as analyses of the extent of the division between secular Jews and others in the Jewish community. In sum, Jewish Secularity: The Search for Roots and the Challenges of Relevant Meaning provides an overview of a profound development in the evolving history of Jewish life in America.Preface Zachary I. HellerIntroduction David M. GordisSecular Forms of Judaism Paul Mendes-FlohrDemography and Dimensions of Secularity among American Jews Barry A. KosminSecularism in the Contemporary Jewish Community David M. GordisLet Us Speak of Stories Leonard FeinA Personal History of Jewish Reading Ilan StavansGods Language and the Making of Secular Jewish Culture David BialeSources of Secularism Mitchell SilverSecular Jewish Musical ExpressionIs Nothing Sacred? Hankus NetskyThe Secularization of Jewish Cultural Memory:Epistemological and Hermeneutical Reflections Paul Mendes FlohrSecular Jewishness in Israel and the Diaspora Yonatan GlaserAccepting Secular Jewishness and Embracing All Jews Eva GoldfingerContributors?David M. Gordis is president of Hebrew College and professor emeritus of Rabbinics. He is the founding director of the National Center for Jewish Policy Studies and the initiator of the Inl3#