ABSTRACT

The Routledge Companion to Jewish History and Historiography provides an overview of Jewish history from the biblical to the contemporary period, while simultaneously placing Jewish history into conversation with the most central historiographical methods and issues and some of the core source materials used by scholars within the field.

The field of Jewish history is profitably interdisciplinary. Drawing from the historical methods and themes employed in the study of various periods and geographical regions as well as from academic fields outside of history, it utilizes a broad range of source materials produced by Jews and non-Jews. It grapples with many issues that were core to Jewish life, culture, community, and identity in the past, while reflecting and addressing contemporary concerns and perspectives. Divided into four parts, this volume examines how Jewish history has engaged with and developed more general historiographical methods and considerations. Part I provides a general overview of Jewish history, while Parts II and III respectively address the rich sources and methodologies used to study Jewish history.

Concluding in Part IV with a timeline, glossary, and index to help frame and connect the history, sources, and methodologies presented throughout, The Routledge Companion to Jewish History and Historiography is the perfect volume for anyone interested in Jewish history.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

part I|313 pages

Jewish histories

chapter 1|17 pages

The biblical period

Society, culture, and demographics

chapter 2|9 pages

The age of the Bible and Ancient Near East

Intellectual developments and highlights

chapter 6|13 pages

The rabbinic period

Intellectual developments and highlights

chapter 7|12 pages

The rabbinic period

Comparative topics and emerging trends

chapter 8|17 pages

The Middle Ages

Society, culture, demography 1

chapter 9|11 pages

The Middle Ages

Economics and politics

chapter 11|11 pages

Middle Ages

Comparative topics and emerging trends

chapter 16|14 pages

Modernity

Intellectual developments and highlights

chapter 18|25 pages

Emerging and comparative trends in modern Jewish history

Beyond exceptionalism

chapter 19|13 pages

Contemporary Jewish demography, society, and culture

Secularization and its discontents

chapter 20|15 pages

A new moment in time

The unraveling of the contemporary Jewish civic enterprise—contexts and comparisons

chapter 21|16 pages

Contemporary Jewish politics and historiography

The case of the BDS movement

part II|133 pages

Sources for Jewish history

chapter 22|8 pages

Archaeology, papyri, inscriptions

chapter 24|17 pages

Material culture

chapter 25|6 pages

Rabbinic writings

chapter 26|6 pages

The sources of Jewish philosophy

chapter 27|8 pages

Polemics and apologetics

chapter 29|7 pages

Inquisition records

chapter 30|10 pages

Non-Jewish records

chapter 32|7 pages

Sermons

chapter 33|18 pages

Correspondence and letters

chapter 34|8 pages

Autobiographies and memoirs

chapter 35|5 pages

Memorybooks

chapter 36|7 pages

Jewish press and periodicals

part III|162 pages

Historiography

chapter 37|13 pages

Social and cultural history

chapter 38|12 pages

Sociology and demography in modern Jewish history

Toward a unified history

chapter 39|15 pages

Women’s and gender studies

Historiographical trends

chapter 41|23 pages

Economic history

chapter 42|16 pages

Jewish politics

History and historiographical implications

chapter 43|13 pages

Zionism and New Israeli History

chapter 46|12 pages

Communications and media history

chapter 47|10 pages

Oral history

The case of Holocaust survivor testimonies

part IV|6 pages

Resources

chapter |4 pages

Timeline