LITERARY STUDIES CONTEMPORARY JEWISH WRITING IN EUROPE: A GUIDE Vivian Liska and Thomas Nolden, eds. Indiana University Press, 2008. $29.95 ISBN: 978-0-253-34875-3 With contributions from a dozen American and European scholars, this volume presents an overview of Jewish writing in post-World War II Europe. The essays portray Jewish authors across Europe as writers and intellections of multiple affiliations and hybrid identities.
THE GOLEM IN JEWISH AMERICAN LITERATURE: RISKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE FICTION OF THANE ROSENBAUM, NOMI EVE AND STEVE STERN Nicola Morris Peter Lang, 2007. $60.95 ISBN: 978-0-8204-6384 Morris explores the concept of this clay humanoid as a metaphor for power and powerlessness, a device to examine the problematic Holocaust representation in the second generation, the uncertain boundaries between fiction and historiography, the ethics of intertextuality, and the writer’s responsibility to literary, folkloric, and oral sources.
MODERN JEWISH THOUGHT BONDAGE OF THE MIND: HOW OLD TESTAMENT FUNDAMENTALISM SHACKLES THE MIND AND ENSLAVES THE SPIRIT R.D. Gold Aldus Books, 2008. $24.95 ISBN: 978-0-9796406-0-5
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Jewish Book World
Fall 5768/2008
An argument against all forms of fundamentalist religion through an examination of Orthodox Judaism and Christian fundamentalism.
SCHOLARSHIP ABRAHAM’S JOURNEY: REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE OF THE FOUNDING PATRIARCH Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik KTAV, 2008. $25.00 ISBN: 978-1-60-28000-4-5 The ninth title in the series MeOtzar HoRav: Selected Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, which seeks both the eternal and the contemporary messages of the Abraham story.
MASTERS OF THE WORD: TRADITIONAL JEWISH BIBLE COMMENTARY FROM THE 11TH THROUGH 13TH CENTURIES Rabbi Yonatan Kolatch KTAV, 2008. $35.00 ISBN: 978-0-881259-39-1 The second work in a series of in-depth explorations of the world of traditional Jewish Bible commentaries.
THE OPEN CANON: ON THE MEANING OF THE HALAKHIC DISCOURSE Avi Sagi Continuum, 2007. $29.95 ISBN: 978-0-8264-96706 Outline of the broad spectrum of answers to important questions presented in Jewish literature, covering theological issues bearing on the meaning of the Torah and of revelation, as well as hermeneutical questions regarding understanding of the halakhic text.
A RESTATEMENT OF RABBINIC CIVIL LAW VOLUME XI, INDEX Rabbi Emanuel Quint Gefen, 2007. $50.00 ISBN: 978-965-229-375-6 A quick, efficient way to reference to all ten volumes of A Restatement of Rabbinic Civil Law.
TORAH FOR TEENS: GROWING UP SPIRITUALLY WITH THE WEEKLY SIDRAH Jeffrey M. Cohen Vallentine Mitchell, 2008. $44.95 ISBN: 978-0-85303-803-0 Cohen explains the relevance of the weekly Torah portions to such current issues as the potential to act heroically, responsibility for Israel, leadership, resisting peer pressure, and other moral lessons. The book is specifically designed for the young adult and student generation.
WOMEN’S STUDIES MODERNISM, FEMINISM, AND JEWISHNESS Maren Tova Linett Cambridge University Press, 2007. $90.00 ISBN: 978-0-521-88097-8 An exploration of the aesthetic and political roles performed by Jewish characters in women’s fiction between the World Wars.
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