Prophets of the Past

Interpreters of Jewish History

By: Michael Brenner, Steven Rendall (Translator)

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Hardcover | 22 August 2010

At a Glance

Hardcover
320 Pages

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23.4 x 15.2 x 2.54

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Prophets of the Past is the first book to examine in depth how modern Jewish historians have interpreted Jewish history. Michael Brenner reveals that perhaps no other national or religious group has used their shared history for so many different ideological and political purposes as the Jews. He deftly traces the master narratives of Jewish history from the beginnings of the scholarly study of Jews and Judaism in nineteenth-century Germany; to eastern European approaches by Simon Dubnow, the interwar school of Polish-Jewish historians, and the short-lived efforts of Soviet-Jewish historians; to the work of British and American scholars such as Cecil Roth and Salo Baron; and to Zionist and post-Zionist interpretations of Jewish history. He also unravels the distortions of Jewish history writing, including antisemitic Nazi research into the "Jewish question," the Soviet portrayal of Jewish history as class struggle, and Orthodox Jewish interpretations of history as divinely inspired.

History proved to be a uniquely powerful weapon for modern Jewish scholars during a period when they had no nation or army to fight for their ideological and political objectives, whether the goal was Jewish emancipation, diasporic autonomy, or the creation of a Jewish state. As Brenner demonstrates in this illuminating and incisive book, these historians often found legitimacy for these struggles in the Jewish past.

Industry Reviews

"A well-translated and welcome addition to Jewish history collections."--Choice

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Religion & Beliefs Judaism Society & Culture Social Groups Social & Cultural Aspects of Religious Groups Jewish Studies History Specific Events & Topics in History Social & Cultural History History Theory & Methods Historiography

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction Viewpoints on Jewish History	p. 1
Objectivity and Partiality	p. 2
Remembering and Forgetting	p. 4
Nation and Religion	p. 6
Scholarship and Ideology	p. 9
Heroes and Eras	p. 12
Jewish History as History of Religion
Wissenschaft des Judentums in the Service of Reform and Emancipation	p. 17
Christian Beginnings	p. 18
Traditional Reverberations	p. 21
In the Service of Religious Reform	p. 24
In the Battle for Political Emancipation	p. 27
Jewish Religious History as Counterhistory	p. 36
One Religion among Numerous Nations	p. 42
Between Religion and Nation
Graetz and His Construction of Jewish History	p. 53
The Battle against Reform and Assimilation	p. 57
Only a History of Suffering and Learning?	p. 60
The Debate with Christianity and Germanness	p. 64
Rationalism and Mysticism	p. 68
Translations and New Interpretations	p. 73
External Opinions on Jewish History	p. 82
The Nationalization of Jewish History
The View from the East	p. 93
Dubnow: Diaspora Nationalism as a Historical Concept	p. 93
Polish Jewish Historiography between the Wars	p. 106
Under the Soviet Star: Jewish History as Class History	p. 114
Jewish History without Tears?
New Perspectives in the West	p. 121
Baron in New York: Against the Lachrymose Version of Jewish History	p. 123
Roth in Oxford: More Than a History of Victims	p. 131
From the Salon to the Academy: The Beginnings of Jewish Women's History	p. 136
The Return of Tears: Jewish History versus the History of the ôJewish Questionö	p. 144
A Signal in Dark Times: The ôJewish Contributionö to Civilization	p. 151
The Return of the Nation to its Land
Zionist Narrative Perspectives	p. 157
The Revolt against the Father: The Break with Wissenschaft des Judentums	p. 158
Patricide: Scholem's Metaphorics of Death	p. 163
New Fathers: The ôJerusalem Schoolö under Baer and Dinur	p. 171
New Sons: Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, Shmuel Ettinger, and Jacob Katz	p. 183
The Revolt of the Grandchildren: The New Historians	p. 192
Postmodern Influences A New Subjectivity	p. 197
From One Jewish Community to Many Jewish Cultures	p. 204
Epilogue	p. 217
Notes	p. 221
References	p. 265
Index	p. 297
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Prophets of the Past

Interpreters of Jewish History

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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