Judaism: The genealogy of a modern notion Daniel Boyarin

Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-210) and index.

Preface: What are we talking about when we talk about "Judaism"? -- Part 1: The terms of the debate -- Chapter 1. Debate of the terms -- Part 2: The state of the lexicon: questioning the archive -- Chapter 2. Jewry without Judaism: the stakes of the question -- Chapter 3. Getting medieval Yahadut -- Part 3: A new dispensation: the Christian invention of "Judaism" -- Chapter 4: "Judaism" out of the entrails of Christianity -- Chapter 5. From Yiddishkayt to Judentum; from Judentum to Yahadut; or philology and the transformation of a folk.

"We treat the word Judaism as a given for describing the religion of Jews. But the term is in some ways socially constructed, rather than inevitable. After all, exactly what would constitute "authentic" Judaism? Some have argued that there are multiple Judaisms, going in the direction of plurals that so many scholars find satisfying. But Boyarin takes a different tack, proposing that before the modern era there should be no "Judiasm" at all. For Boyarin, there was no sphere of life that can be called Judaism that was separate from the political, artistic, and cultural elements of life. Moreover, he argues that Judaism is a Christian coinage to serve Christian discursive purposes by setting what we call Judaism in opposition to Christianity and that the term has little utility for Jews. The various Jewish languages have no such concept and no such term. He believes that categories drawn from outside the culture are anachronistic, not informative. Boyarin will be making a case for substituting Jewry for Judaism. Jewry is a concept that integrates many aspects of the lives of Jews, rather than separating out religion from other aspects of life"--