Journal of Law and Religion最新文献

{"title":"Between Belonging and Identity in Ancient Judaism: The Role of Emotion in the Production of Identity","authors":"Ari Mermelstein","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.4","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This essay considers the vexed relationship between belonging and identity. Belonging is not an objective or unreflective association but rather an emotional assertion of attachment. That emotional connection is an indispensable component of identity, which, as Joseph David argues in Kinship, Law and Politics: An Anatomy of Belonging, is a relationship charged with meaning. Accordingly, the distinction between belonging as a privately held sentiment and the politics of belonging overlooks the fact that the emotions associated with belonging define group membership. Belonging is not a private matter but an emotional relationship that shapes social life, reinforces a group’s identity politics, and finds expression in a group’s practices. Analysis of two case studies from ancient Judaism—the writings of Philo of Alexandria and the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls—demonstrates the emotional, social, and discursive dimensions of belonging and the role it plays in producing identity. Belonging is not a stable concept but is rather one that assumes different forms depending on the emotional orientation of the group and the particulars of identity politics. For Philo, belonging reflects a universalistic love for all humanity that helps shape an identity embracing Jewish practice and Greek virtue. By contrast, the Dead Sea sect’s antipathy toward all other Jews requires that a sense of belonging express not only love for fellow sectarians but also hate for all outsiders.","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"24 1","pages":"365 - 374"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84948405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment: A Global and Historical Comparison. By Ahmet T. Kuru. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. 316. $99.99 (cloth); $34.99 (paper); $28.00 (digital). ISBN: 9781108409476.","authors":"Hakkı Taş","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"5 1","pages":"423 - 426"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85990978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Belonging in the Land and the Law: A Reading of Joseph David on Nahmanides’s Territorial Exegesis","authors":"Nina Caputo","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.9","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Joseph E. David’s Kinship, Law and Politics: An Anatomy of Belonging provides an erudite demonstration of how an analytical approach that directs attention to negotiations of belonging in exegetical and legal thinking can yield crucial insight into how social boundaries are defined and defended in throughout human history in a broad array of contexts. Among the examples he brings to illustrate premodern efforts to delineate belonging is Nahmanides’s interpretation of territory based commandments. David shows that Nahmanides made the radical claim that the covenant was firmly linked to the land, so that any people inhabiting the land were obliged to follow it, and complete compliance with divine law could be achieved only in the Land of Israel. This essay examines David’s discussion of Nahmanides’s interpretation of law in the Land of Israel and considers the implications of extending an analysis of conceptions of belonging into other corners of Nahmanides’s career as a commentator, community leader, and teacher.","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"2 1","pages":"384 - 389"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78856110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Great, Gray City of Light","authors":"Nadia Marzouki","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.25","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This essay analyzes one of James Baldwin’s least commented-upon essays, “Equal in Paris,” through the lens of current debates about transatlantic differences regarding race, equality, and citizenship. In his essay, Baldwin narrates how he was imprisoned in Paris for several days a year after his arrival in France. Baldwin constructs his essay not as a political manifesto about race, citizenship, and equality. Rather, through a powerful and cinematographic description, he leads the reader to share the narrator’s distressing experience of disjunction and terror he had while in prison. This literary choice can be understood in the context of Baldwin’s rejection of theologies of damnation and redemption that, according to him, motivate protest writings.","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":"252 - 260"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88231509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan. By Jolyon Baraka Thomas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019. Pp. 336. $32.50 (paper); $31.99 (digital). ISBN: 9780226618791.","authors":"Frank S. Ravitch","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.3","url":null,"abstract":"Faking Liberties is an impeccably researched and compelling account of the development of religious freedom in Japan both before and during the US occupation. Jolyon Baraka Thomas does amasterful job researching and analyzing an array of Japanese and US sources from the Meiji Era through the US occupation. He argues that there wasmore religious liberty inMeiji Era Japan than manyWestern and Japanese scholars have suggested and that the concept of religious freedom that came to the fore during theUS occupation, which is reflected not only in Japan today but also in many Western democracies, was invented somewhat on the fly. The story he weaves is historically and theoretically compelling. Moreover, Thomas grapples with the underlying problem of defining what constitutes “religion” and what constitutes “not religion,” and with the myth that “religious freedom” exists as a metaphysical concept for which there is some Archimedean point outside of given societies, periods of time, or contexts that can demonstrate true religious freedom. On the first topic—religious liberty during the Meiji Era—Thomas makes many compelling points. First, he argues that contrary to many accounts there was robust debate about religious freedomduring theMeiji Era, and that various stakeholders both inside and outside of government took the concept of religious liberty seriously. Second, he argues that despite the many abuses of religious liberty, especially by modern standards, Meiji Era conceptions of religion and religious liberty were par for the course in many European countries and elsewhere at that time. Thirdly, he argues that “State Shinto” was an invention of the US occupiers.Without denying themany abuses by Japanese authorities during the colonial and wartime periods, he argues that the Meiji Era government’s view of what later became known as “State Shinto”was secularist practically and perhaps theoretically. This is the least convincing argument in the book both at a practical and at a theoretical level, but there are still important insights in Thomas’s discussion of the malleable and theoretically troubling line between the secular and the religious, and the historical sources he masterfully assembles and discusses. In fact, one of the great strengths of this book is that one can agree or disagree with a given point and yet come away far more knowledgeable about all sides of an issue and with fresh, important insights.","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"22 1","pages":"416 - 418"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87336934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Belonging and Identity: Past and Present","authors":"Joseph David","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.23","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Like many others, I believe that the information revolution is a constitutive moment in human history, and not only because of the development of technologies that change our habits and improve the quality of our lives. More than anything else, it is because the information revolution profoundly and dramatically changes our self-concept. That revolution is changing our understanding of the place we occupy in the universe (the erosion of anthropocentrism), forcing us to rethink our uniqueness as human beings and our human essence. I believe that the preconditions of our existence are changing dramatically nowadays, and consequently, our notions of belonging and identity require revision.","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"31 1","pages":"393 - 400"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90840228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sovereignty, Reason, and Will: Carl Schmitt and Hasidic Legal Thought","authors":"Zalman Rothschild","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.14","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The decisionistic strand in Jewish legal philosophy is often neglected by scholars focused on the more common rational explanations for Jewish law. This article brings attention to decisionism in Jewish legal thought by analyzing the legal philosophy of Shneur Zalman of Lyady, the founder of the Habad Hasidic movement. The author uses the legal and political thought of Carl Schmitt—arguably modernity’s most influential decisionist—to help elucidate Shneur Zalman’s decisionistic legal thought and thereby put into sharper focus an otherwise underappreciated current in Jewish legal philosophy.","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"5 1","pages":"319 - 333"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81492293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In God’s Image: An Anthropology of the Spirit.By Michael Welker. Translated by Douglas W. Stott. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021. Pp. 167. $29.00 (cloth); $21.00 (paper); $19.95 (digital). ISBN: 9780802878748.","authors":"William Schweiker","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.21","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.21","url":null,"abstract":"The publication of the Gifford Lectures by renowned thinkers is always an intellectual event. The reader turns to the volume not only with the expectation of insight into the author ’ s mind, but also to gain perspective on the religious tenor of our time. In this respect, and others to be mentioned, the reader will not be disappointed by Michael Welker ’ s slim, yet profound, book, In God ’ s Image: An Anthropology of the Spirit. Addressing some of the most pressing issues confronting people around the world, from justice to peace and freedom to truth, the work outlines a picture of human beings focused on the spirit. The reader is also taken into classical problems in Christian theology and is introduced to new ideas and ways of thinking about the human condition. The work aims, as Welker puts it, “ at a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the human spirit and the divine Spirit as a sound basis for natural theology and theology in general ” (ix). The task is nothing less than to show how humanity can be “ transformed into a joyful and loving ‘ image of God ’” (x). Exploring how to be transformed into the image of God also provides, on Welker ’ account, the grounds of ethics and the shape of life within diverse social and cultural realms. Some will be taken back by such claims about the imago Dei while others will find new energy in the theological task. Every reader, I judge, will be challenged and enlightened.","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"61 1","pages":"419 - 422"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84629254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Michael Perry: A Pioneer Integrating Traditions in Law and Religion","authors":"M. C. Kaveny","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.26","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.26","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"343 1","pages":"217 - 221"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79578793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Law and the Rule of God: A Christian Engagement with Sharī'a. By Joshua Ralston. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. 352. $99.99 (cloth); $80.00 (digital). ISBN: 9781108489829.","authors":"Andrew F. March","doi":"10.1017/jlr.2022.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.13","url":null,"abstract":"With Law and the Rule of God: A Christian Engagement with Shar ī ʿ a , Joshua Ralston aims to fill what he sees as a lacuna in recent Christian theological writing about Islam: Christian theologians do not seem to know what to say about the Islamic shar ī ʿ a from a theological perspective. Seeking to eschew both “ outright polemics or essentializing apologetics of shar ī ʿ a , ” Ralston proposes “ an approach that that engages in honest, nuanced, and critical ways with the diverse debates and visions that Muslims and the Islamic legal-theological traditions them-selves have and are having on shar ī ʿ a , sovereignty, justice, and the rule of God ” (10). But what does it mean to “ engage ”","PeriodicalId":44042,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Religion","volume":"17 1","pages":"408 - 411"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78949400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}