A history of Judaism
- Penguin Books, 2019
- xxix, 623 p. ill. 20 cm.
Includes index. Introduction: Approaching the History of Judaism-- PART I Origins (C. 2000 BCE-70CE)-- 1. Deserts, tribes and empires-- 2. The formation of the Bible-- 3. Worship-- 4. The Torah of Moses: Judaism in the Bible-- PART II Interpreting the Torah (200 BCE-70 CE)-- 5. Jews in a Graeco-Roman world-- 6. 'Jewish doctrine takes three forms'-- 7. The limits of variety-- 8. Preocupations and expectations-- PART III The formation of Rabbinic Judaism (70-1500 CE)-- 9. From pagan Rome to Islam and medieval Christendom-- 10. Judaism without a temple-- 11. Rabbis in the East (70-1000 CE)-- 12. Judaism beyond the Rabbis-- 13. Rabbis in the West (1000-1500 CE)-- PART IV Authority and reaction (1500-1800)-- 14. The european renaissance and the new world-- 15. New certainties and new mysticism-- PART V The challenge of the modern world (1750-present)-- 16. From the enlightenment to the State of Israel-- 17. Reform-- 18. Counter-reform-- 19. Rejection-- 20. Renewal-- PART VI Epilogue-- 21. Waiting for the Messiah?--
Judaism is by some distance the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions. Despite the extraordinarily diverse forms it has taken, the Jewish people have believed themselves bound to God by the same covenant for more than three thousand years. This book explains how Judaism came to be and how it has developed from one age to the next, as well as the ways in which its varieties have related to each other.