| A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community: Mordecai M. Kaplan, Orthodoxy, and American Judaism Contributor(s): Gurock, Jeffrey (Author), Schacter, Jacob (Author) |
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ISBN: 0231106262 ISBN-13: 9780231106269 Publisher: Columbia University Press OUR PRICE: $108.90 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: February 1997 Annotation: Mordecai M. Kaplan, the founder of the Reconstructionist movement, was the most influential and controversial radical Jewish thinker in the twentieth century. A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community follows Kaplan from his earliest days as a member in good standing in the Orthodox community, through his period of private estrangement, into his public divorce from Orthodoxy, and ultimately through his many decades as Reconstructionism's leader. Jeffrey S. Gurock and Jacob J. Schacter examine the intellectual influences that moved Kaplan from Orthodoxy and analyze the combination of personal, strategic, and career reasons that kept Kaplan close to Orthodox Jews. More than a biography, A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community is also a social history of American Orthodoxy and of American Judaism over the last century. Demonstrating how Orthodoxy in America was not a monolithic entity but rather allowed for a wide range of beliefs and practices, the book makes a distinct contribution to the fabric of American social history, Judaism, and the history of religion in the United States. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Judaism - History - Biography & Autobiography | Religious - History | Jewish - General |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 96032329 |
| Lexile Measure: 1670 |
| Physical Information: 0.78" H x 6.3" W x 9.3" (1.20 lbs) 256 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - Jewish - Religious Orientation - Jewish |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Mordecai M. Kaplan, the founder of the Reconstructionist movement, was the most influential and controversial radical Jewish thinker in the 20th century. Examining the intellectual influences that prompted Kaplan to reject fundamental Orthodox precepts, Jeffrey S. Gurock and Jacob J. Schacter ask a question crucial to the understanding of any religion: can an established religious group learn from a heretic who has rejected its most fundamental beliefs? |