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Bezig met laden... Carnal Israel (1993)door Daniel Boyarin
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Onderdeel van de reeks(en)The New Historicism (25) Prijzen
Beginning with a startling endorsement of the patristic view of Judaism--that it was a "carnal" religion, in contrast to the spiritual vision of the Church--Daniel Boyarin argues that rabbinic Judaism was based on a set of assumptions about the human body that were profoundly different from those of Christianity. The body--specifically, the sexualized body--could not be renounced, for the Rabbis believed as a religious principle in the generation of offspring and hence in intercourse sanctioned by marriage. This belief bound men and women together and made impossible the various modes of gender separation practiced by early Christians. The commitment to coupling did not imply a resolution of the unequal distribution of power that characterized relations between the sexes in all late-antique societies. But Boyarin argues strenuously that the male construction and treatment of women in rabbinic Judaism did not rest on a loathing of the female body. Thus, without ignoring the currents of sexual domination that course through the Talmudic texts, Boyarin insists that the rabbinic account of human sexuality, different from that of the Hellenistic Judaisms and Pauline Christianity, has something important and empowering to teach us today. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)296.1Religions Other Religions Judaism Jewish writingsLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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The first lies in the book's central thesis, which looks at how the Jewish/Christian strand of thought which borrow from the Greek, platonic tradition led to a privilege of mind over body, whereas the Rabbinical tradition of late antiquity, as both a philosophical and political move, tended to maintain the importance of the body and sexuality.
In part, Boyarin admits, there were for tribal, even xenophobic reasons, for this emphasis on carnality, but they nonetheless formed an important point of difference and an implicit critique of the Christian view that became dominant. In subsequent chapters, therefore, he traces how this focus on the body played out in questions of theology, sexuality, gender, and even the study of the Talmud (since the last was explicitly forbidden to women).
The second aspect of this book that I liked was Boyarin's nuanced historical approach. He is very precise and balanced in how he presents his topic, pointing out at various points the temptation to simplify into black and white discourses of "good" and "bad," especially in line with modern political values about the body and feminism.
For me, the book started out strongly, but the argument in the second half seemed to get wrapped up in technicalities that are only importance or relevant to scholars of Jewish history. Then again, perhaps that is to be expected - after all, as I said at the beginning, I am no expert in this area. ( )