Dear SOCREL-PG Subscribers,
I hope the following will be of interest to
you:
The Passionate Torah
Sex and Judaism
Edited by Danya Ruttenberg
“It is not often that an academic title about religion
stimulates other parts of the body as well as the mind. Yet that is what
Ruttenberg, a rabbi, and the seventeen contributors to this collection of
essays have accomplished. Ruttenberg, a wunderkind of Jewish feminism, leads
the reader through an often racy reconsideration of what the sacred Jewish
texts say about our most intimate relationships.”
- Publishers Weekly
“The Passionate Torah is not a guidebook
to ̰kosher sex,’ as
Chabad emissary turned high-profile media figure Shmuley Boteach called one of
his best-selling books, but rather an assemblage of eighteen essays that apply
cutting-edge scholarship to the way the Jewish sources deal with subjects like
birth control, homosexuality, premarital sex, niddah (the laws that separate a
woman from her husband while she is menstruating), masturbation and more.”- Haaretz
“Living according to Jewish values means
embracing a holy sexual ethic. Whether you are single, married, straight, or
queer, this book is indispensable in teaching you why and how.”- Leora
Tanenbaum, author of Taking Back God
In this unique collection of essays, some of today’s
smartest Jewish thinkers explore a broad range of fundamental questions in an
effort to balance ancient tradition and modern sexuality. In the last few
decades a number of factors — post-modernism, feminism, queer liberation, and
more — have brought discussion of sexuality to the fore, and with it a whole
new set of questions that challenge time-honoured traditions and ways of
thinking. For Jews of all backgrounds, this has often led to an unhappy
standoff between tradition and sexual empowerment. Yet as The Passionate
Torah illustrates, it is of critical importance to see beyond this apparent
conflict if Jews are to embrace both their religious beliefs and their
sexuality. With incisive essays from contemporary rabbis, scholars, thinkers,
and writers, this collection not only surveys the challenges that sexuality
poses to Jewish belief, but also offers fresh new perspectives and insights on
the changing place of sexuality within Jewish theology — and Jewish lives.
Covering topics such as monogamy, inter-faith relationships, reproductive
technology, homosexuality, and a host of other hot-button issues, these
writings consider how contemporary Jews can engage themselves, their loved
ones, and their tradition in a way that’s both sexy and sanctified.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
Jul 2009
320pp £12.99 PB: 9780814776056
SPECIAL
DISCOUNTED PRICE OF £9.10 to SOCREL-PG Subscribers
Postage and Packing
£3.50
(PLEASE
QUOTE REF NUMBER: GR140809SP for discount)
To order a copy please
contact Marston on 44(0)1235 465500 or email [log in to unmask]
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Jews, God, and Videotape
Religion and Media in America
By Jeffrey Shandler, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
“In Jews, God, and Videotape, Shandler provides
a fresh and fascinating account of the impact of technology on the religious
life of American Jews during the last one hundred years.”- Philadelphia
Inquirer
“Serving as the definitive road map through the
history of American Jews’ encounters with modern media. Jews, God and
Videotape demonstrates that although we tend to think of media and religion
as opposed to one another, media practices can enhance religious identities
even as they also shape and ultimately change them.”- Lynn Schofield Clark,
author of From Angels to Aliens
“Insightful and engaging. . . . Jews, God, and
Videotape details the remarkable success that Judaism has found beyond the
pages of the book. There is a life for Torah and durability of its message, he
shows us, outside the scroll.”- Samuel Heilman, Harold M. Proshansky Chair of
Jewish Studies, City University of New York
Engaging media has been an ongoing issue for American Jews,
as it has been for other religious communities in the United States, for
several generations. Jews, God, and Videotape is a pioneering
examination of the impact of new communications technologies and media
practices on the religious life of American Jewry over the past century.
Shandler’s examples range from early recordings of cantorial music to Hasidic
outreach on the Internet. In between he explores mid-twentieth-century
ecumenical radio and television broadcasting, video documentation of life cycle
rituals, museum displays and tourist practices as means for engaging the
Holocaust as a moral touchstone, and the role of mass-produced material culture
in Jews’ responses to the American celebration of Christmas. Shandler argues
that the impact of these and other media on American Judaism is varied and
extensive: they have challenged the role of clergy and transformed the nature
of ritual; facilitated innovations in religious practice and scholarship, as
well as efforts to maintain traditional observance and teachings; created
venues for outreach, both to enhance relationships with non-Jewish neighbours
and to promote greater religiosity among Jews. As Jews, God, and Videotape
demonstrates, American Jews’ experiences are emblematic of how religious
communities’ engagements with new media have become central to defining
religiosity in the modern age.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
May 2009
352pp £14.99 PB: 9780814740682
SPECIAL
DISCOUNTED PRICE OF £10.50 to SOCREL-PG Subscribers
Postage and Packing
£3.50
(PLEASE
QUOTE REF NUMBER: GR140809SP for discount)
To order a copy please
contact Marston on 44(0)1235 465500 or email [log in to unmask]
or visit our website: http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/catalogue.asp?ex=fitem&target=9780814740682&fmt=f
where you can still receive your discount
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