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OverviewFull Product DetailsAuthor: David BialePublisher: University of California Press Imprint: University of California Press Dimensions: Width: 13.30cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 20.30cm Weight: 0.363kg ISBN: 9780520211346ISBN 10: 0520211340 Pages: 334 Publication Date: 03 October 1997 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Out of stock  The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Table of ContentsPREFACE INTRODUCTION: Dilemmas of Desire Chapter 1 Sexual Subversions in the Bible Chapter 2 Law and Desire in the Talmud Chapter 3 Rabbinic Authority and Popular Culture in Medieval Europe Chapter 4 Sensuality, Asceticism, and Medieval Jewish Philosophy Chapter 5 Sexuality and Spirituality in the Kabbalah Chapter 6 The Displacement of Desire in Eighteenth- Century Hasidism Chapter 7 Eros and Enlightenment Chapter 8 Zionism as an Erotic Revolution Chapter 9 Sexual Stereotypes in American Jewish Culture EPILOGUE: Creating Desire NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SELECTED SECONDARY WORKS INDEXReviewsA scholarly study of Jewish sexuality that is neither sexy nor particularly Jewish. Here, Biale (Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, 1986) appears to have lost his way in the murkier realms of philosophy and theology. He's at his best when dealing with the sociological and psychological realms of sexuality and powerlessness, as noted in the nervous passions of Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, and Erica Jong. Elsewhere, though, his central argument sees Eros in Judaism as the struggle between contradictory attractions...the story of a profoundly ambivalent culture. Biale consistently misses the subtleties of the Oriental, Jewish paradox of erotic spirituality with his Occidental, secular Bible-critic's sensibility that finds only contradictions. He therefore thinks it scandalous (rather than glorious) that King David's lineage is built on the incestuous seductions of the gentiles Tamar and Ruth (who lust only for progeny). Similarly, Biale cannot see how the literal level of the Song of Songs feeds the spiritual level with its erotic yearning for the Other. The failure to see that classical Judaism is closer to the Kama Sutra than to the teachings of St. Paul is one thing, but Biale is guilty of errors ( Jacob himself associated with the affirmation of intermarriage ) and of contempt for traditionalists who don't share his view that Judaism is a derivative amalgam of Canaanite and Greco-Roman culture. His subjectivity is all too perceptible. The extensive notes and bibliography help document shifting attitudes toward romance and marriage, but a topic like this deserves a little passion. (Kirkus Reviews) Author InformationDavid Biale is Koret Professor of Jewish History and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He is the author of Gershom Scholem: Kabbalah and Counter-History (1979) and Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History (1986), both of which won the National Jewish Book Award. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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