Synopsis
With their exhaustive and thought-provoking account of the troubled relationship between Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, and the American Jewish orthodoxy out of which he emerged, the authors set their arresting biographical study of Kaplan himself firmly (and helpfully) within the context of the social history of American Judaism over the last century.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1996-12-01 | | Edition Description: | Illustrated |
| Size | | Length: | 220 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 19.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
Mordecai M. Kaplan, the founder of the Reconstructionist movement, was the most influential and controversial radical Jewish thinker in the twentieth century. A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community follows Kaplan from his earliest days as a member in good standing in the Orthodox community, through his period of private estrangement, into his public divorce from Orthodoxy, and ultimately through his many decades as Reconstructionism's leader. Jeffrey S. Gurock and Jacob J. Schacter examine the intellectual influences that moved Kaplan from Orthodoxy and analyze the combination of personal, strategic, and career reasons that kept Kaplan close to Orthodox Jews. More than a biography, A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community is also a social history of American Orthodoxy and of American Judaism over the last century. Demonstrating how Orthodoxy in America was not a monolithic entity but rather allowed for a wide range of beliefs and practices, the book makes a distinct contribution to the fabric of American social history, Judaism, and the history of religion in the United States.
Industry Reviews
"In their fascinating account, Jeffrey Gurock and Jacob Schacter explore the troubled relationship of Mordecai Kaplan with American Orthodox Judaism. Other biographies have ably charted the making of Kaplan's innovative, iconoclastic theology; 'A Modern Heretic' looks at Kaplan from the point of view of the community he left behind. What made Kaplan singularly worthy of excommunication by Orthodox rabbis? And what made Kaplan so appealing to other Orthodox rabbis that they continued to use his ideas, learn from him, and eve, toward the end of his life, honor him? This book offers an engaging answer shaped by the unique perspective of American Orthodoxy."
publisher's ad - Deborah Dash Moore
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