How do American Jews identify as both Jewish and American? American Post-Judaism argues that Zionism and the Holocaust, two anchors of contemporary American Jewish identity, will no longer be centers of identity formation for future generations of American Jews. Shaul Magid articulates a new, post-ethnic American Jewishness. He discusses pragmatism and spirituality, monotheism and post-monotheism, Jesus, Jewish law, sainthood and self-realization, and the meaning of the Holocaust for those who have never known survivors. Magid presents Jewish Renewal as a movement that takes this radical cultural transition seriously in its strivings for a new era in Jewish thought and practice.

A vision of Jews, Judaism, and Jewishness for the 21st century

About the Author

Shaul Magid is Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Professor of Jewish Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He is author of From Metaphysics to Midrash (IUP, 2008).

Reviews

Shaul Magid . . . has just happened to write one of the most important books on American Judaism written of late. . . . Magid has a keen eye on the politics of change and renewal as they impact Israel and the American Jewish community.

* The Daily Beast *

The ongoing public conversation about the future of American Judaism is embodied in a small library of recent books, many of which have been considered here. None of them, however, offers quite the same potent brew of courage, clarity, passion and expertise as Shaul Magid's American Post-Judaism . . . , a scholarly but also visionary book about what it means to be a Jew in America today.

* Jewish Journal *

Magid's important book is a clear and realistic - albeit incomplete - preliminary analysis of Judaism in America; its achievements; and its crises. It provides a variety of perspectives on the creation of contemporary Jewish society in the U.S. . . . that provide an accurate portrait of postethnic Judaism.

* Haaretz *

[Magid's] American Post-Judaism provides a timely and necessary, if controversial, entry into contemporary Jewish theology. Highly recommended.

* H-Judaic *

[American Post-Judaism] deals with the reality of American Jewish life with realism and with insight.

* JNS *

[R]equired reading for anyone directly concerned with Jewish survival, and for everyone interested in the state of institutional religion and personal spirituality in the US today. . . Highly recommended.

* Choice *

[T]his spirited and erudite collection has much to contribute to the sociological understanding of American Jewry. . . When read against the findings of the Pew Study, however, his observation that American Jewry has arrived at a 'between moment' strikes me as singularly prescient.

* Sociology of Religion *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253008022
Author Shaul Magid
Format Hardback
Page Count 408
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 703g