Download or read book Judaism in Biological Perspective written by Rick Goldberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-03 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can there be rational examples of the compatibility between natural science and Judaism? This book offers a strikingly novel perspective on traditional and contemporary Judaic practices. For those with some Judaic knowledge, there are biological explanations in these chapters not seen elsewhere. For those well-versed in evolutionary theory, the authors' perspectives suggest new approaches to the scientific study of religion. Topics include the monistic tendency, biblical polygyny, biblical family conflict, circumcision and proselytes, sacrificial-ritualistic mitzvot (obligations), periodic conjugal separation, Judaic traditionalism, male and female reproductive strategies, and the relationship between costly signaling and prestige.
Download or read book Mind Body and Judaism written by David Shatz and published by KTAV Publishing House, Inc.. This book was released on 2004 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sovereignty over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the most difficult problems in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although it is a present-day bone of contention, its roots go back into the distant past. Israelites, Christians, and Muslims had fought over this holy site, and built on it a succession of shrines. The book leads the reader into the intricate history, geography, and politics of this unique site. It relates the roots of its holiness, describes the succession of temples built on it, and explains how in the twentieth century its sanctity become interwined with the national aspirations of both Jews and Arabs. It explains why the Temple Mount is considered the holiest site for the Jews, and how it became holy also to the Muslims. The book also explores the role of evangelical Christians, who, alongside a segment of the Jewish population, see the Temple Mount as the center of messianic aspirations, fed by the myriad of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legends and myths which evolved around it. The book is richly illustrated with photographs, sketches, maps, and plans.
Download or read book Zionism and the Biology of Jews written by Raphael Falk and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a unique perspective on Zionism. The author, a geneticist by training, focuses on science, rather than history. He looks at the claims that Jews constitute a people with common biological roots. An argument that helps provide justification for the aspirations of this political movement dedicated to the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. His study explores two issues. The first considers the assertion that there is a biology of the Jews. The second deals with attempts to integrate this idea into a consistent history. Both issues unfolded against the background of a romantic national culture of Western Europe in the 19th century: Jews, primarily from Eastern Europe, began to believe these notions and soon they took the lead in the re-formulation of Jewish and Zionist existence. The author does not intend to present a comprehensive picture of the biological literature of the origins of a people and the blood relations between them. He also recognizes that the subject is emotionally-loaded. The book does, however, present a profound mediation on three overlapping questions: What is special or unique to the Jews? Who were the genuine Jews? And how can one identify Jews? This volume is a revised and edited English version of Tzionut Vehabiologia shel Hayehudim, published in 2006.
Download or read book Jews and Genes written by Elliot N. Dorff and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2015-03 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Well aware of Jews having once been the victims of Nazi eugenics policies, many Jews today have an ambivalent attitude toward new genetics and are understandably wary of genetic forms of identity and intervention. At the same time, the Jewish tradition is strongly committed to medical research designed to prevent or cure diseases. Jews and Genes explores this tension against the backdrop of various important developments in genetics and bioethics--new advances in stem cell research; genetic mapping, identity, testing, and intervention; and the role of religion and ethics in shaping public policy. Jews and Genes brings together leaders in their fields, from all walks of Judaism, to explore these most timely and intriguing topics--the intricacies of the genetic code and the wonders of life, along with cutting-edge science and the ethical issues it raises.
Download or read book Judaism Science and Moral Responsibility written by Yitzhak Berger and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Judaism, Science, and Moral Responsibility is the fourteenth conference volume in the Orthodox Forum Series. Current scientific and moral trends stress the need for greater sensitivity to human dignity, but at the same time challenge the very structure and sanctity of traditional Jewish norms. The contributors in this work explore the issues of Judaism, science, and Jewish moral principles in a manner that should be of interest to the layman and scholar alike. The Forum Series provides a valuable and relevant resource, bringing the insights of Jewish thinkers to the fore in a rapidly changing society.
Download or read book A BROAD VIEW of SCIENCE and MORAL VALUES written by and published by מנדלי מוכר-ספרים ברשת. This book was released on with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Jewish People A Biological History written by Harry Lionel Shapiro and published by . This book was released on 1960 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religion and the Individual written by Louis Jacobs and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1992-01-09 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a careful analysis of the primary texts, Jacobs conducts a thorough survey of some of the most important instances where the individual is discussed in the Jewish religious tradition.
Download or read book The Racial Biology of the Jews and the Racial Origin and Earliest Racial History of the Hebrews written by von Verschuer /. Fischer and published by Blurb. This book was released on 2018-07-25 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New edition, completely reset and contains the complete text of these two essays which first appeared in the pages of the Forschungen Zur Judenfrage series of volumes. Written by two of Germany's most prominent biologists, the essays analyze the origin and nature of the Jewish people from a historical and biological perspective. Drawing heavily upon racial anthropology, the authors conclude that the Jews are a composite race, although always still strongly showing a common genetic base. Fischer shows how the Jews were created in Palestine from four sources: the Orientalid race as its main component, the Mediterranean race as an admixture, the Near Eastern race as a strong second component, and Nordic elements mixed in now and then. Verschuer provides a detailed anthropological description of Jews, including susceptibility to disease, mental traits (Jews are twice as likely to be schizophrenics), and other psychological traits-such as for example, their much lower drug and alcohol addiction rates. Verschuer also discusses the evidence for negroid admixture among Jews, and ultimately agrees with Fischer's analysis, pointing out that the consistency of the mix creates certain dominant traits "which are the inherent chief components of the racial mixture." Finally, Verschuer points out that the selective process to which Jews were subjected "stamped a whole, particular race with quite specific racial traits of a physical as well as mental-psychological kind."
Download or read book Human Nature Jewish Thought written by Alan L. Mittleman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-27 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What Jewish tradition can teach us about human dignity in a scientific age This book explores one of the great questions of our time: How can we preserve our sense of what it means to be a person while at the same time accepting what science tells us to be true—namely, that human nature is continuous with the rest of nature? What, in other words, does it mean to be a person in a world of things? Alan Mittleman shows how the Jewish tradition provides rich ways of understanding human nature and personhood that preserve human dignity and distinction in a world of neuroscience, evolutionary biology, biotechnology, and pervasive scientism. These ancient resources can speak to Jewish, non-Jewish, and secular readers alike. Science may tell us what we are, Mittleman says, but it cannot tell us who we are, how we should live, or why we matter. Traditional Jewish thought, in open-minded dialogue with contemporary scientific perspectives, can help us answer these questions. Mittleman shows how, using sources ranging across the Jewish tradition, from the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud to more than a millennium of Jewish philosophy. Among the many subjects the book addresses are sexuality, birth and death, violence and evil, moral agency, and politics and economics. Throughout, Mittleman demonstrates how Jewish tradition brings new perspectives to—and challenges many current assumptions about—these central aspects of human nature. A study of human nature in Jewish thought and an original contribution to Jewish philosophy, this is a book for anyone interested in what it means to be human in a scientific age.
Download or read book Why Evolution Matters written by Joel Yehudah Rutman and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why Evolution Matters examines the concept of evolution in relation to Judaism, showing that far from something to be avoided within the religion, evolutionary thought deepens an understanding of classic areas of Jewish concern, including free will, moral behavior, suffering, and death. The book presents a novel interpretation of biological evolution in which convergences, self-organization, constraints, and progress are seen as components of the divinely intended world. Why Evolution Matters confronts some major questions that are leveled at the Jewish religion: How can God have created the world when evolution says everything just happened? How can we believe in the truth of Genesis when it conflicts with the facts of evolution? How did we evolve and why does it matter? The book explains how Genesis and evolutionary cosmology and biology reinforce, rather than contradict, one another. Author Joel Yehudah Rutman, an experienced pediatric neurologist, draws on his own practical experience in a branch of medicine in which our evolutionary past is much in evidence. Why Evolution Matters is a 'must-read' for scientists, religious studies scholars, and anyone with an interest in religion. *** "...thoughtful and very well-researched, with extensive notes, bibliography, and index. This book will fit into collections on Jewish thought and philosophy, especially those that already have material on Judaism and science." -- AJL Reviews, Vol. V, No. 4, November/December 2015 [Subject: Evolution, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, Philosophy]
Download or read book Brave New Judaism written by Miryam Z. Wahrman and published by Brandeis University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expert looks at how the different denominations of Judaism respond to biotechnological advances.
Download or read book A Chosen Calling written by Noah J. Efron and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2014-06 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rejecting the idea that Jews have done well in science because of uniquely Jewish traits, Jewish brains, and Jewish habits of mind, this book approaches the Jewish affinity for science through the geographic and cultural circumstances of Jews who were compelled to settle in new worlds in the early twentieth century.
Download or read book The Myth of the Jewish Race written by Alain F. Corcos and published by Lehigh University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a youth, the author, who had two Jewish grandparents, was defined as a Jew by Vichy France; his parents, however, refused to register the family as Jews. (In March 1944 Corcos and his brother fled to Spain and joined the Allied Forces in North Africa.) States that antisemites consider Jewishness to be inherited and to embody inferior, evil traits. This view is based on two false biological premises: that there are pure races of humans, and that some races are superior to others. Rejects these premises by considering modern biology and Jewish history. The latter indicates that the Jews cannot be a race, due to their lack of sexual isolation; diversity among Jews is a result of both intermarriage and proselytism. Sees the Spanish "limpieza de sangre" statutes and the Inquisition as precursors of Nazi racism. Observes that sometimes Jews have joined antisemites in accepting biological determinism. Intermarriage in countries such as China, India, and the USA has led to considerable biological diversity among Jews and to the reduction of diversity between Jews and non-Jews, if such diversity existed at all. Stresses that if antisemites have worried about "contamination" of their "race" by the Jews they have already missed the boat since Jews have mixed with non-Jews for many centuries.
Download or read book Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism written by Geoffrey Cantor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darwin’s theory of evolution transformed the life sciences and made profound claims about human origins and the human condition, topics often viewed as the prerogative of religion. As a result, evolution has provoked a wide variety of religious responses, ranging from angry rejection to enthusiastic acceptance. While Christian responses to evolution have been studied extensively, little scholarly attention has been paid to Jewish reactions. Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism is the first extended meditation on the Jewish engagement with this crucial and controversial theory. The contributors to Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism—from several academic disciplines and two branches of the rabbinate—present case studies showing how Jewish discussions of evolution have been shaped by the intersections of faith, science, philosophy, and ideology in specific historical contexts. Furthermore, they examine how evolutionary theory has been deployed when characterizing Jews as a race, both by Zionists and by anti-Semites. Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism addresses historical and contemporary, as well as progressive and Orthodox, responses to evolution in America, Europe, and Israel, ultimately extending the history of Darwinism into new religious domains.
Download or read book Judaism Human Values and the Jewish State written by Yeshayahu Leibowitz and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biochemist by profession, a polymath by inclination and erudition, Yeshayahu Leibowitz has been, since the early 1940s, one of the most incisive and controversial critics of Israeli culture and politics. His direct involvement, compelling polemics, and trenchant criticism have established his steadfast significance for contemporary Israeli-and Jewish- intellectual life. These hard-hitting essays, his first to be published in English, cover the ground Leibowitz has marked out over time with moral rigor and political insight. He considers the essence and character of historical Judaism, the problems of contemporary Judaism and Jewishness, the relationship of Judaism to Christianity, the questions of statehood, religion, and politics in Israel, and the role of women. Together these essays constitute a comprehensive critique of Israeli society and politics and a probing diagnosis of the malaise that afflicts contemporary Jewish culture. Leibowitz's understanding of Jewish philosophy is acute, and he brings it to bear on current issues. He argues that the Law, Halakhah, is essential to Judaism, and shows how, at present, separation of religion from state would serve the interest of halakhic observance and foster esteem for religion. Leibowitz calls the religious justification of national issues "idolatry" and finds this phenomenon at the root of many of the annexationist moves made by the state of Israel. Long one of the most outspoken critics of Israeli occupation in the conquered territories, he gives eloquent voice to his ongoing concern over the debilitating moral effects of its policies and practices on Israel itself. This translation will bring to an English-speaking audience a much-needed, lucid perspective on the present and future state of Jewish culture.
Download or read book Dostoevsky in Context written by Deborah A. Martinsen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 589 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the Russia where the great writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–81), was born and lived. It focuses not only on the Russia depicted in Dostoevsky's works, but also on the Russian life that he and his contemporaries experienced: on social practices and historical developments, political and cultural institutions, religious beliefs, ideological trends, artistic conventions and literary genres. Chapters by leading scholars illuminate this broad context, offer insights into Dostoevsky's reflections on his age, and examine the expression of those reflections in his writing. Each chapter investigates a specific context and suggests how we might understand Dostoevsky in relation to it. Since Russia took so much from Western Europe throughout the imperial period, the volume also locates the Russian experience within the context of Western thought and practices, thereby offering a multidimensional view of the unfolding drama of Russia versus the West in the nineteenth century.
