{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.01386748844375963, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.931506849315069, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Of the making of one book: contemporary introductions to Judaism

This article discusses some of the major issues inherent in introductory courses in Judaism through an examination of seven books that were written to serve as textbooks for such a course. The seven authors surveyed are Jews who are writing about their own religious tradition as insiders, and their books are to some extent expressions of their particular orientations as Jews. It is clear to all the authors that one volume cannot by itself say everything that needs to be said about a complex religious tradition thousands of years in the making. One important commonality is their emphasis on the relationship of Judaism to Christianity. This aspect of the presentation of Judaism bespeaks the Christian (or post-Christian) nature of the English-speaking societies for which the textbooks have been created. As well, it reminds us of the imposed nature of the term ‘Judaism’ to describe the religious expression of Jews. While their approaches to the manifold historical and contemporary meanings of Judaism vary considerably, all of them are engaged in a balancing act that seeks to convey the complex historical heritage of the Jews along with other criteria more common in the study of religions, such as beliefs and rituals.