Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

This extensively researched, wide-ranging history of the Bible's place in and influence on the social and political landscape of the US from its founding through 1911 will likely be viewed as Noll's magnum opus. The book is organized in six sections: "Creating a Bible Civilization," "A Protestant Bible Civilization," "Fractures," "The Eclipse of Sola Scriptura," "After the Bible Civilization," and "Toward the Present." Other scholars will no doubt question whether Noll (emer., Notre Dame) strikes the right balance of whose voices to include and whose history gets told, but he gives substantive space to those outside the white, Protestant, evangelical majority. He devotes attention to the African American Bible and includes chapters exploring how Catholics, Jews, Lutherans, naysayers, women, and Natives related to his narration of the growth and decline of the Protestant Bible civilization that shaped and was shaped by American history. The readability and very reasonable price of this lengthy tome open it to a wide audience, and the 150 pages of endnotes will make the book useful to scholars of American history as well as American religion.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

Adopting a long historical purview comparable to Kristen Lindbeck's in her extremely capable Elijah and the Rabbis (CH, Feb'11, 48-3226), Matt nimbly traces the figure of Elijah as he transforms from zealous prophet to messianic herald to angelic rabbi to mystagogue and compassionate mediator of Israel's covenant. As befits the accomplished translator of the Pritzker edition of The Zohar (CH, Jul'04, 41-6485), the author delivers an illuminating chapter on kabbalists' interpretations of Elijah and in another chapter examines his role in prominent Jewish rituals, including the Passover meal and circumcision. Focusing squarely on Elijah, Matt demonstrates how the rabbinic imagination repeatedly reinvents and renews the Jewish tradition. This said, Matt does not neglect Elijah's roles in the Christian and Muslim traditions, extending the range of the contribution on this popular and protean figure, who is both central and liminal to a great many stories and rites. This trim volume is sure to be welcomed by academics, and it will be accessible to a wider audience. It is a pleasure to read such commanding erudition when it is deployed with such concision and apparent ease.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

How do the natural sciences relate to the humanities, particularly to religious claims? Drawing from the philosophy of Donald Davidson, Levy (Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology, Norway) recommends a kind of "pragmatism," implying that concepts of what is physical and what is mental cannot be reduced or identified because of certain limits of language. One result is a denial of formulating a completely scientific or physicalist psychology; another is a denial of subsuming all religious claims under scientific claims. The latter result has found influential support from Stephen Jay Gould, but Levy does not pursue his work. Levy claims that "science without the humanities is blind" (p. 183), but his "agnosticism" about religion leaves one wondering why science needs religion at all. His skepticism also extends to science: "Science cannot tell ontological truths" (p. 186). Readers are left wondering how Levy knows this. Does he have some access to reality that enables him to say that science falls short in capturing reality? That would seem to be a requirement of his bold skepticism, but it needs support and careful discussion.Summing Up: Optional. Faculty and researchers.

Sounding the depths of Judaism, anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust, Patterson (Holocaust studies, Univ. of Texas, Dallas) focuses on the object of anti-Semitic hatred--the Jew--to examine the metaphysical origins of exterminationist anti-Semitism and the singularity of the Holocaust. Jews are perceived as an unsettling, unnecessary, and unwanted divine presence in the world. Every "thou shalt" to take "responsibility for the infinite dearness of the other" (p. 7) is eschewed. The anti-Semite seeks a final solution to the Jewish question by eliminating altogether the voice of the divine commandment. Patterson's poignant lyricism is paired with incisive research that aims to confront the persistent scourge of anti-Semitism in the post-Holocaust world. In a debatable chapter on anti-Zionism, Patterson sharply rebukes left-wing intellectuals as harshly as right-wing, anti-Israeli extremists and Islamic jihadists. Left-wing intellectuals might well criticize toxic Israeli policies regarding, for example, the treatment of Palestinians and Israeli settlements on the West Bank but still uphold the sacred right of the state of Israel to exist. All in all, Patterson has produced a deeply insightful expose of anti-Semitism alongside a powerful affirmation of Jewish life amid the desolation of the post-Holocaust world.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

One might think of a religion in terms of beliefs, ethical values, and personal practices, and those certainly are central elements. But Wuthnow (emer., sociology, Princeton) calls for looking at religion more deeply, specifically at its power as expressed in several key dimensions. He notes that this power can be used positively or negatively, but he wants readers to be aware of how religion can function in subtle, easily unnoticed ways. Wuthnow's specialties have been cultural sociology and the sociology of religion, and he utilizes his expertise in these areas to draw out insights related to five central areas of religion's power: ritual practice, discourse, institutions, identity, and politics. In successive chapters, he examines the power of religion in terms of these areas. Though the book is scholarly--Wuthnow discusses empirical research and points to key figures, theories, and ideas on the subject--it is also accessible. The author writes in a somewhat conversational style, without academic jargon, and he illustrates his ideas with interesting stories and historical examples. Other scholars have examined religion in politics but have not engaged in the kind of incisive sociological and historical analysis Wuthnow does.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

Any subject in the hands of eminent historian of American religion Catherine Albanese (Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) will be treated with scholarly precision and respect. This is particularly true in this study of some personages she calls "delight makers." These people include the well known (Jonathan Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Bushnell, William James) and some spokespersons of Anglo-American metaphysical religion many will find unfamiliar (Andrew Jackson Davis, Warren Felt Evans, and Emma Curtis Hopkins). Albanese's work introduces the reader to an often-ignored part of the religious spectrum in US history. What unites this disparate group of thinkers is that all pursued a state of being marked by the experience of delight or happiness. Published at a time when Americans seem to be seeking all varieties of new forms of pleasure, Albanese's treatment of delight makers from the 17th to the 21st century will be informative and appreciated by a wide audience, including those outside the academy.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

What role does the understanding of the US as special and as divinely appointed influence the way people view politics and political issues? This is the important question McDaniel (Univ. of Texas), Nooruddin (Georgetown Univ.), and Shortle (Univ. of Oklahoma)--all scholars of political science--seek to answer in this book. They have researched this and related topics for more than a decade and conducted nine major surveys. Drawing on data they gathered from those and other scholarly surveys, they conclude that the overarching perception of American religious exceptionalism--the US's founding myth--has significantly impacted how people see the world. The authors focus in particular on how, over the past two decades, this myth/perception has been used to foster Christian nationalism, and through that how Americans understand their identity and their views on issues related to citizenship and immigration. Whereas a significant percentage of Americans reject the idea of American national exceptionalism and the political assumptions and beliefs often associated with it, this shared myth is pervasive and has long been part of American history. Those who wish to examine this topic in more detail will appreciate the bibliographic references, which run to 32 pages.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

This is a sophisticated, well-informed study of Scholem (1897-1982), who, as the book's title announces, is considered the father of Jewish mysticism. Prior to Scholem's work, Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) was perceived by the major scholars of the 19th century as a body of negative teachings, mostly originating in non-Jewish sources. Through meticulous study of the original mystical texts, Scholem stood this interpretation on its head. He showed that throughout the long history of Judaism, mysticism has been a central creative force within the tradition. How Scholem came to his revolutionary understanding--which changed not only the study of Kabbalah but also Jewish studies more generally--is here reexamined with learning and nuance. Beginning with Scholem's German intellectual roots and his particular interest in language and messianism, Weidner (comparative literature, Martin Luther Univ. of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany) traces the basic principles that Scholem was committed to. Weidner has closely studied Scholem's diaries and correspondence and examined his personal beliefs, especially regarding Jewish identity, and thus is able to convey a good deal about Scholem, the Zionist intellectual, whose entire life was predicated on rejecting assimilation. This is a valuable study of a remarkable personality and scholar.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

This beautifully produced work provides an unprecedented study of the pictorial representations of the ten sefirot, divine emanations, as imagined by the Kabbalists over the centuries. Known as ilanot, these visual representations attempt to provide an understanding of the nature of the transcendent. The sefirot in these diagrams are meant to help explain the hierarchical arrangement of the divine characteristics; the interrelationship of the divine attributes one to another; and the relationship between the world above and the world below. The sources Chajes (Univ. of Haifa) reproduces and studies are drawn primarily from the rich pool of such images provided by medieval manuscripts. Chajes locates their origin in comparable medieval scientific materials that employed diagrams to explain scientific concepts and the relationship between such concepts, which explains what the Kabbalists who created these representations had in mind. Chajes writes that "the ilan is, perhaps more than anything, a devotional instrument ... an image [that] invites the contemplative on a journey of imaginal pilgrimage." In addition, these representations were used as magical amulets. This is a thoughtful, learned, and wise study.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

This is among the finest brief introductions to the Reformation in the current literature. Kaufmann (Univ. of Gottingen, Germany) describes the church on the eve of the Protestant Reformation, in the early years of the Holy Roman Empire (1517-30), and later developments (1530-1600), and he concludes by surveying the Reformation's reception and worldwide impact. He fills the narrative with surprising details, statistics, and quotations. The prose is succinct and arresting: e.g., he writes that "Luther's most important tool was language" (p. 59) and, later, that "Luther's catechism was his most successful writing" (p. 125). According to Kaufmann, during the critical early years Reformers challenged Catholicism by publishing 1,500-2,000 pamphlets per year. The 1520s saw Luther's separation from the peasants and from theologians Erasmus and Zwingli. Political sovereigns' decisions were key to implementing reform. Treatment of reform throughout Europe (1536-1600) is inclusive: Calvin, Anabaptists, success/failure in Protestant expansion, and Catholic reform. Kaufmann takes stands on two major issues: he supports widely held views that press and political authorities were key to the success of the Reformation, and that the institutions of the monastery and the university shaped Luther. He agrees that the Reformation contributed significantly to the modern world, citing use of new media and tolerance, and he abandons the claim that there is only one truth.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.

Blankholm (religious studies, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) analyzes what it means to be secular or nonreligious in the US today. He bases his study on interviews with persons identified with such groups as the American Humanist Association and on his own participation as both scholar and secular person in training events and conferences these groups sponsor. His conclusion is in the title. A religious substratum in American culture forces those who deny the existence of God to explain what they do believe. The paradox is simply that the very categories used to describe secularity come from what is rejected. Within secular organizations, the paradox echoes in debates over whether secularity provides a basis for ethics and whether the rejection of traditional types of religious authority dismantles any internal authority. Many of Blankholm's informants faced the paradoxical situation of having to "deconvert" from a traditional religion to convert to a secular identity. This work enriches understanding of one of the fastest growing segments of the US population, those with no religious affiliation or identity. Though somewhat jargon laden, this study merits the attention of students of American religious culture at all levels.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.