Struggle for the Jewish Mind

Noted scholar Jacob Neusner records skirmishes in an ongoing battle within the field of Judaic Studies between ethnic and academic scholars. On the one side, Neusner argues, ethnic scholars assume the interest in and importance of the Jewish and Judaic data and regard incremental erudition, whether or not formed for a purpose, as self-evidently interesting. On the other side, academic scholars address issues of humanistic learning and treat the Jewish or Judaic data as exemplary of broader issues in the humanities and social sciences. Taken together, the skirmishes constitute a widening gap between these two academies on the essential question of how to conduct scholarship about the Jews and Judaism. By bringing together book reviews and essays of debate, Professor Neusner addresses the works of colleagues and critics and presents as a whole a corpus of criticism. Co-published with Studies in Judaism.