Overview

Presenting Jewish environmentalism as a case study of contemporary post-secularism, this book exemplifies the responses of world religions to the global ecological crisis and situates Jewish environmental spirituality historically, socially, theologically, and politically. Discussing key figures, texts, and organizations that have given Jewish environmentalism its distinctive character as “earthly spirituality”, the book explains how science and technology functioned in the secularization of Judaism, on the one hand, as well as in the counter process of sacralization of nature. It explores the various dimensions of Jewish environmentalism: official statements of Jewish denominations, eco-theologies, eco-hermeneutics, eco-feminism, and public theology; and also links Jewish environmentalism to main forces in modern Jewish history - Zionism, and Americanization. Finally, the study explores the contribution of “non-Jewish Jews” to American environmentalism and explains how “radical Jews” of Leftist orientation became Spiritual Progressives who promoted the ecological wisdom of Judaism to address the social ills of American society as well as the global ecological crisis. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Jewish studies, religious studies, secularism/post-secularism studies, religion and ecology, and religion and science.

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9780815357735

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Hava Tirosh-Samuelson (Ph.D. Hebrew University of Jersualem, 1978) is Regents Professor of History and Irving and Miriam Lowe Professor of Modern Judaism at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. A Jewish intellectual historian, Tirosh-Samuelson writes on Jewish philosophy and mysticism, religion, science, and technology, and religion and ecology. In addition to seventy-five essays and book chapters, she is the author of three monographs – the award-winning, Between Worlds: The Life and Thought of Rabbi David ben Judah Messer Leon (1991); Happiness in Premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge and Well-Being (2003), and Religion and Environment: The Case of Judaism (2020). She is also the editor of eight volumes including Judaism and Ecology: Created World and Revealed World (2002) and The Legacy of Hans Jonas: Judaism and the Phenomenon of Life (2008). Tirosh-Samuelson is the Editor-in-Chief of the Library of Contemporary Jewish Philosophy (2012-2018), a set of 21 volumes.

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