Reflections on Identity

Avi Sagi is a professor of philosophy at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, where he established the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies. He is also a faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He has written and edited many books and articles in philosophy, among them Albert Camus and the Philosophy of the Absurd; Kierkegaard, Religion, and Existence: The Voyage of the Self; Jewish Religion after Theology, and Prayer after the Death of God. His contribution to contemporary Jewish philosophy has recently been showcased in Avi Sagi: Extentialism, Pluralism, and Identity ed. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson and Aaron W. Hughes (Leiden: Brill, 2015).

• Acknowledgements Preface Part One 1. From an Essentialist to a Multicultural Identity 2. A Critique of the Jewish Identity Discourse 3. Primordial Identity: The Jewish Case Part Two 4. Between a Rights Discourse and an Identity Discourse 5. “Religion and State”: A Critical Analysis 6. On Exile, Strangers, and Sovereignty: Identity in the Biblical Tradition Bibliography Sources Index

There is much to commend in Sagi’s most recent work. He situates his thought well in various theological and philosophical traditions and argues his claims cogently and concisely. ... Sagi has provided an insightful and compelling study that should appeal to a wide array of readers.