Power and Emotion in Ancient Judaism
Community and Identity in FormationAUTHOR: Ari Mermelstein, Yeshiva University, New York
DATE PUBLISHED: June 2021
AVAILABILITY: This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
FORMAT: Adobe eBook Reader
ISBN: 9781108934633$ 80.00 USD Adobe eBook Reader
Description
In this book, Ari Mermelstein examines the mutually-reinforcing relationship between power and emotion in ancient Judaism. Ancient Jewish writers in both Palestine and the diaspora contended that Jewish identity entails not simply allegiance to God and performance of the commandments but also the acquisition of specific emotional norms. These rules regarding feeling were both shaped by and responses to networks of power - God, the foreign empire, and other groups of Jews - which threatened Jews' sense of agency. According to these writers, emotional communities that felt Jewish would succeed in neutralizing the power wielded over them by others and, depending on the circumstances, restore their power to acculturate, maintain their Jewish identity, and achieve redemption. An important contribution to the history of emotions, this book argues that power relations are the basis for historical changes in emotion discourse.
- Theorizes the relationship between power, emotion, and identity
- Analyses a broad array of ancient Jewish sources to demonstrate the importance of this relationship
- Provides an account of Jewish identity which includes not just practice and belief but also emotion
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