Secularization in Modern Jewish Thought
This article discusses the main challenges that secularization presented to Judaism and to Jewish thought, and maps the key strategies and central thinkers who responded to this challenge, from the eighteenth century up to the turn of the twenty-first. Attention is also given to some secular theolog...
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| Language: | English |
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St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology
2024-07-01
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| Series: | St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.saet.ac.uk/Judaism/SecularizationinModernJewishThought |
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| author | Zohar Maor Ori Werdiger |
| author_facet | Zohar Maor Ori Werdiger |
| author_sort | Zohar Maor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article discusses the main challenges that secularization presented to Judaism and to Jewish thought, and maps the key strategies and central thinkers who responded to this challenge, from the eighteenth century up to the turn of the twenty-first. Attention is also given to some secular theologies, to Zionist thinkers embracing secularization, and to the challenges of post-Holocaust Jewish theology. In particular, the entry highlights the frequent questioning of a religious/secular divide that figures within modern Jewish thought. In the dominant European context of Western secularization, it argues that eighteenth-century Hasidism effectively opposed the creation of separate secular and religious spheres, and it presents a view of Hasidic and other Orthodox leaders as modern thinkers whose engagement with secularism included openness to key secular notions. In addition, paying attention to responses to secularization within Sephardi Jewry, who lived among Muslim-majority societies primarily in North Africa and the Middle East, the entry suggests that Sephardi rabbis viewed Judaism as an inclusive whole, and tacitly rejected an assumed division of Judaism into religious and secular elements. Finally, the entry also claims that, for key modern Jewish theologians, the secular served as a theological category that is employed within projects of criticism of ‘religion’. For such thinkers, secularization then becomes a step, and even a foundation stone, for broader spiritual, religious, and even messianic global futures. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0c60b1b1409349659cb140a6ffa63096 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2753-3492 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-07-01 |
| publisher | St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology |
| spelling | doaj-art-0c60b1b1409349659cb140a6ffa630962025-08-20T03:40:33ZengSt Andrews Encyclopaedia of TheologySt Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology2753-34922024-07-01Secularization in Modern Jewish ThoughtZohar Maorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7672-306XOri Werdigerhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8982-6022This article discusses the main challenges that secularization presented to Judaism and to Jewish thought, and maps the key strategies and central thinkers who responded to this challenge, from the eighteenth century up to the turn of the twenty-first. Attention is also given to some secular theologies, to Zionist thinkers embracing secularization, and to the challenges of post-Holocaust Jewish theology. In particular, the entry highlights the frequent questioning of a religious/secular divide that figures within modern Jewish thought. In the dominant European context of Western secularization, it argues that eighteenth-century Hasidism effectively opposed the creation of separate secular and religious spheres, and it presents a view of Hasidic and other Orthodox leaders as modern thinkers whose engagement with secularism included openness to key secular notions. In addition, paying attention to responses to secularization within Sephardi Jewry, who lived among Muslim-majority societies primarily in North Africa and the Middle East, the entry suggests that Sephardi rabbis viewed Judaism as an inclusive whole, and tacitly rejected an assumed division of Judaism into religious and secular elements. Finally, the entry also claims that, for key modern Jewish theologians, the secular served as a theological category that is employed within projects of criticism of ‘religion’. For such thinkers, secularization then becomes a step, and even a foundation stone, for broader spiritual, religious, and even messianic global futures.https://www.saet.ac.uk/Judaism/SecularizationinModernJewishThoughtsecularizationpost-secularhasidismorthodox judaismsephardi traditionalismharedi judaism (ultra-orthodoxy)zionismpost-holocaust theology |
| spellingShingle | Zohar Maor Ori Werdiger Secularization in Modern Jewish Thought St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology secularization post-secular hasidism orthodox judaism sephardi traditionalism haredi judaism (ultra-orthodoxy) zionism post-holocaust theology |
| title | Secularization in Modern Jewish Thought |
| title_full | Secularization in Modern Jewish Thought |
| title_fullStr | Secularization in Modern Jewish Thought |
| title_full_unstemmed | Secularization in Modern Jewish Thought |
| title_short | Secularization in Modern Jewish Thought |
| title_sort | secularization in modern jewish thought |
| topic | secularization post-secular hasidism orthodox judaism sephardi traditionalism haredi judaism (ultra-orthodoxy) zionism post-holocaust theology |
| url | https://www.saet.ac.uk/Judaism/SecularizationinModernJewishThought |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zoharmaor secularizationinmodernjewishthought AT oriwerdiger secularizationinmodernjewishthought |