Description
Following what may be conventionally called the Jewish ethno-cultural model and tracing its performance throughout history, Alexander Militarev's book is the first scholarly attempt to apply a synthetic, comprehensive approach to the Jewish phenomenon - an alternative to the metaphysical and religious ones - and to evaluate it in the comparative context. In highlighting the unique and disproportionately great Jewish contributions (and the recent Russian Jewish contribution, in particular) to the human civilisation, it poses as its main question: 'Why the Jews?' Militarev dedicates his book to the analysis of the Jewish phenomenon, its manifold reasons and consequences, couched as an essay replete with unexpected conclusions and debatable hypotheses. Laying bare the 'kitchen' of scholarly research, Militarev embarks on a scholarly adventure akin to a film-noir who-dunnit, complete with intrigue, the need for stringent self-control, inexorable doubts, the thrill of the chase after the enigma's solution.
About the Author
Alexander Militarev is a linguist, lecturer, University educator, and researcher in comparative Semitic and Afroasiatic linguistics, Jewish, Biblical, Near Eastern, African studies and the application of linguistic methods to ethno-cultural history. Militarev is the author of, among many publications, the Comparative and Historical Lexicon of Afroasiatic Languages and the Semitic Etymological Dictionary and a professor of History and Philology of the Ancient East at the Institute of Oriental and Classic Studies of the Russian State University for the Humanities and Head of the Center for Hebrew and Related Ethno-Linguistic Studies in the Institute of Linguistics of the same University. Since 2001, he has served as the head of the Semitic and Afroasiatic section of the American-Russian Project "Evolution of Human Languages" in The Santa Fe Institute (Santa Fe, NM); from 1994 to 2009 he was also President of the Jewish University in Moscow.
Reviews
"This remarkable and thought-provoking work, by one of the leading figures in the scholarly revival of Jewish studies in the former Soviet Union is a sustained reflection on the course of Jewish history and of the impact of the Jews over the past millennia on wider developments. It is one of the most fascinating reflections on this vital topic to appear in recent times." -- Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Brandeis University
"A Russian-educated linguist and cultural anthropologist, Alexander Militarev offers in this elegantly written study a novel approach to address the "conundrum" posed by the prominence of the Jews in the unfolding of humanistic cosmopolitan culture. With prodigious erudition, yet with manifest humanity and no small measure of humor, he probes the deep structures of what he calls the "Adamic universalism" inscribed in the biblical lexicon and worldview and which, he argues, continue to inform the cognitive reflexes and ethical sensibilities of Jewish intellectuals." -- Paul Mendes-Flohr, Professor of Modern Jewish Thought, Divinity School, The University of Chicago; Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"In this collection of essays, Militarev (history and philology of the ancient East, Russian State U.), self-identified as a Jewish member of the Russian intelligentsia, presents a comparative linguistic approach to issues relating to Jews' roots and unique historical role and contributions to Russian and world civilization. He includes an etymology of Semitic and Afrasian terms of an intellectual/spiritual nature, notes on the importance of this etymology for interpreting the Bible, and genealogical trees of world and Afrasian languages. This is an updated version of his book published in 2003 by Natalis Press, Moscow, whose English title is A Myth Come True: 'The Jewish Idea' in Civilization." -- Annotation (c)2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR
Book Information
ISBN 9781934843437
Author Alexander Militarev
Format Hardback
Page Count 250
Imprint Academic Studies Press
Publisher Academic Studies Press
About the Author
Alexander Militarev is a linguist, lecturer, University educator, and researcher in comparative Semitic and Afroasiatic linguistics, Jewish, Biblical, Near Eastern, African studies and the application of linguistic methods to ethno-cultural history. Militarev is the author of, among many publications, the Comparative and Historical Lexicon of Afroasiatic Languages and the Semitic Etymological Dictionary and a professor of History and Philology of the Ancient East at the Institute of Oriental and Classic Studies of the Russian State University for the Humanities and Head of the Center for Hebrew and Related Ethno-Linguistic Studies in the Institute of Linguistics of the same University. Since 2001, he has served as the head of the Semitic and Afroasiatic section of the American-Russian Project "Evolution of Human Languages" in The Santa Fe Institute (Santa Fe, NM); from 1994 to 2009 he was also President of the Jewish University in Moscow.
Reviews
"This remarkable and thought-provoking work, by one of the leading figures in the scholarly revival of Jewish studies in the former Soviet Union is a sustained reflection on the course of Jewish history and of the impact of the Jews over the past millennia on wider developments. It is one of the most fascinating reflections on this vital topic to appear in recent times." -- Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Brandeis University
"A Russian-educated linguist and cultural anthropologist, Alexander Militarev offers in this elegantly written study a novel approach to address the "conundrum" posed by the prominence of the Jews in the unfolding of humanistic cosmopolitan culture. With prodigious erudition, yet with manifest humanity and no small measure of humor, he probes the deep structures of what he calls the "Adamic universalism" inscribed in the biblical lexicon and worldview and which, he argues, continue to inform the cognitive reflexes and ethical sensibilities of Jewish intellectuals." -- Paul Mendes-Flohr, Professor of Modern Jewish Thought, Divinity School, The University of Chicago; Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"In this collection of essays, Militarev (history and philology of the ancient East, Russian State U.), self-identified as a Jewish member of the Russian intelligentsia, presents a comparative linguistic approach to issues relating to Jews' roots and unique historical role and contributions to Russian and world civilization. He includes an etymology of Semitic and Afrasian terms of an intellectual/spiritual nature, notes on the importance of this etymology for interpreting the Bible, and genealogical trees of world and Afrasian languages. This is an updated version of his book published in 2003 by Natalis Press, Moscow, whose English title is A Myth Come True: 'The Jewish Idea' in Civilization." -- Annotation (c)2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR
Book Information
ISBN 9781934843437
Author Alexander Militarev
Format Hardback
Page Count 250
Imprint Academic Studies Press
Publisher Academic Studies Press
