Cambridge Companions to Religion: The Cambridge Companion to Judaism and Law

The Cambridge Companion to Judaism and Law explores the Jewish conception of law as an essential component of the divine-human relationship from biblical to modern times, as well as resistance to this conceptualization. It also traces the political, social, intellectual, and cultural circumstances that spawned competing Jewish approaches to its own 'divine' law and the 'non-divine' law of others, including that of the modern, secular state of Israel. Part I focuses on the emergence and development of law as an essential element of religious expression in biblical Israel and classical Judaism through the medieval period. Part II considers the ramifications for the law arising from political emancipation and the invention of Judaism as a 'religion' in the modern period. Finally, Part III traces the historical and ideological processes leading to the current configuration of religion and state in modern Israel, analysing specific conflicts between religious law and state law.

List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction. Can we even speak of 'Judaism and law'? Christine Hayes; 1. Law in biblical Israel Chaya Halberstam; 2. Law in Jewish society of the Second Temple period Seth Schwartz; 3. Law in classical Rabbinic Judaism Christine Hayes; 4. Approaches to secular law in biblical Israel and classical Judaism through the medieval period Beth Berkowitz; 5. Law in medieval Judaism Zev Harvey; 6. The transition to modernity and the invention of the Jewish religion Verena Kasper-Marienberg; 7. Enlightenment conceptions of Judaism and law Eliyahu Stern; 8. Antinomianism and its responses - eighteenth century Menachem Lorberbaum; 9. Antinomianism and its responses - nineteenth century David Ellenson; 10. New developments in modern Jewish thought Yonatan Brafman; 11. Judaism, Jewish law in pre-state Palestine Amihai Radzyner; 12. Judaism, Jewish law, and the Jewish State in Israel Arye Edrei; 13. What does it mean for a state to be Jewish? Daphne Barak Erez; 14. Fault lines Patricia Woods; Primary source index; General index.