Overview

The idea of brotherhood has been an important philosophical concept for understanding community, equality, and justice. In Gendering Modern Jewish Thought, Andrea Dara Cooper offers a gendered reading that challenges the key figures of the all-male fraternity of twentieth-century Jewish philosophy to open up to the feminine. Cooper offers a feminist lens, which when applied to thinkers such as Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas, reveals new ways of illuminating questions of relational ethics, embodiment, politics, and positionality. She shows that patriarchal kinship as models of erotic love, brotherhood, and paternity are not accidental in Jewish philosophy, but serve as norms that have excluded women and non-normative individuals. Gendering Modern Jewish Thought suggests these fraternal models do real damage and must be brought to account in more broadly humanistic frameworks. For Cooper, a more responsible and ethical reading of Jewish philosophy comes forward when it is opened to the voices of mothers, sisters, and daughters.

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9780253057570

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Reviews

Jewish philosophers may have made advances over their counterparts in western philosophy, but there is still much work to be done to undo the way these Jewish philosophers inscribe--or reinscribe--particular gender roles or gendered types.--Claire Elise Katz, Texas A&M University, author of Levinas and the Crisis of Humanism Brotherhood has simply been accepted as shorthand for human equality or solidarity without regard for the significance of the specifically gendered language and the links between that language and the exclusion of difference. Andrea Dara Cooper shows how the fraternal model does damage to women in real terms and is linked to their subjugation.--Mara Benjamin, Mount Holyoke College, author of The Obligated Self Reading for gender in modern Jewish thought, Andrea Dara Cooper changes the terms of the discourse. She boldly and systematically demonstrates how a feminist critical approach to classical works like Rosenzweig and Levinas can reanimate old and familiar texts. Kinship is her way in. Gendering Modern Jewish Thought confirms the feminist turn in the field of Jewish Philosophy and Thought. This is the book I wish I had had when I began my graduate studies. I can only imagine how its powerful argument and interdisciplinary approach will inspire a new and more diverse generation of Jewish thinkers.--Laura Levitt, Temple University, author of The Objects that Remain Brotherhood may sound like a nice metaphor in Jewish thought, but it's an exclusionary one. Gendering Modern Jewish Thought shows how, even as they thought in terms of universalism, Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas both wrote out of their own masculinity and envisioned Judaism as a primarily male enterprise. Andrea Dara Cooper writes feminist analysis at its best: incisive critique followed by constructive new alternatives.--Sarah Imhoff, Indiana University, author of Masculinity and the Making of American Judaism Andrea Dara Cooper's Gendering Modern Jewish Thought is a long-awaited intervention into the field. Incisively, Cooper gracefully first exposes and then unweaves the patterns of argument in the texts of Modern Jewish Thought to expose the gendered assumptions built into the canon.--Susan Shapiro, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Jewish philosophers may have made advances over their counterparts in western philosophy, but there is still much work to be done to undo the way these Jewish philosophers inscribe-or reinscribe-particular gender roles or gendered types. -Claire Elise Katz, Texas A&M University, author of Levinas and the Crisis of Humanism Brotherhood has simply been accepted as shorthand for human equality or solidarity without regard for the significance of the specifically gendered language and the links between that language and the exclusion of difference. Andrea Dara Cooper shows how the fraternal model does damage to women in real terms and is linked to their subjugation. -Mara Benjamin, Mount Holyoke College, author of The Obligated Self Reading for gender in modern Jewish thought, Andrea Dara Cooper changes the terms of the discourse. She boldly and systematically demonstrates how a feminist critical approach to classical works like Rosenzweig and Levinas can reanimate old and familiar texts. Kinship is her way in. Gendering Modern Jewish Thought confirms the feminist turn in the field of Jewish Philosophy and Thought. This is the book I wish I had had when I began my graduate studies. I can only imagine how its powerful argument and interdisciplinary approach will inspire a new and more diverse generation of Jewish thinkers. -Laura Levitt, Temple University, author of The Objects that Remain Brotherhood may sound like a nice metaphor in Jewish thought, but it's an exclusionary one. Gendering Modern Jewish Thought shows how, even as they thought in terms of universalism, Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas both wrote out of their own masculinity and envisioned Judaism as a primarily male enterprise. Andrea Dara Cooper writes feminist analysis at its best: incisive critique followed by constructive new alternatives. -Sarah Imhoff, Indiana University, author of Masculinity and the Making of American Judaism Andrea Dara Cooper's Gendering Modern Jewish Thought is a long-awaited intervention into the field. Incisively, Cooper gracefully first exposes and then unweaves the patterns of argument in the texts of Modern Jewish Thought to expose the gendered assumptions built into the canon. -Susan Shapiro, University of Massachusetts Amherst

"""Jewish philosophers may have made advances over their counterparts in western philosophy, but there is still much work to be done to undo the way these Jewish philosophers inscribe—or reinscribe—particular gender roles or gendered types.""—Claire Elise Katz, Texas A&M University, author of Levinas and the Crisis of Humanism ""Brotherhood"" has simply been accepted as shorthand for human equality or solidarity without regard for the significance of the specifically gendered language and the links between that language and the exclusion of difference. Andrea Dara Cooper shows how the fraternal model does damage to women in real terms and is linked to their subjugation.""—Mara Benjamin, Mount Holyoke College, author of The Obligated Self ""Reading for gender in modern Jewish thought, Andrea Dara Cooper changes the terms of the discourse. She boldly and systematically demonstrates how a feminist critical approach to classical works like Rosenzweig and Levinas can reanimate old and familiar texts. Kinship is her way in. Gendering Modern Jewish Thought confirms the feminist turn in the field of Jewish Philosophy and Thought. This is the book I wish I had had when I began my graduate studies. I can only imagine how its powerful argument and interdisciplinary approach will inspire a new and more diverse generation of Jewish thinkers.""—Laura Levitt, Temple University, author of The Objects that Remain ""Brotherhood may sound like a nice metaphor in Jewish thought, but it's an exclusionary one. Gendering Modern Jewish Thought shows how, even as they thought in terms of universalism, Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas both wrote out of their own masculinity and envisioned Judaism as a primarily male enterprise. Andrea Dara Cooper writes feminist analysis at its best: incisive critique followed by constructive new alternatives.""—Sarah Imhoff, Indiana University, author of Masculinity and the Making of American Judaism ""Andrea Dara Cooper's Gendering Modern Jewish Thought is a long-awaited intervention into the field. Incisively, Cooper gracefully first exposes and then unweaves the patterns of argument in the texts of Modern Jewish Thought to expose the gendered assumptions built into the canon.""—Susan Shapiro, University of Massachusetts Amherst"

Author Information

Andrea Dara Cooper is Leonard and Tobee Kaplan Scholar in Modern Jewish Thought and Culture and Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies, Religion Compass and the Journal of Jewish Ethics.

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