Jewish philosophical polemics against Christianity in the Middle Ages

Lasker, Daniel J.

KTAV Publishing House

Review\n"Daniel Lasker is an exemplary scholar with thorough command of the literature and an ability to convey the most foundational and fascinating elements of Karaism to a general readership." 
Jessica Andruss, University of Virginia\n"A true eminence in the field, Professor Lasker commands wide respect and recognition. His very fine, reliable introduction to Karaite Judaism will also engage an audience interested in larger questions, such as pluralism and self-definition." 
Daniel Frank, Ohio State University\n"Lasker's book offers an extremely well-researched introduction to the relatively unknown and un-researched branch of Jewish history that includes Karaite Jewry and its texts, commentaries and records, in the hope that it inspires readers to continue learning about the "oldest surviving alternative Judaism"." 
Hadassah Faur, Jerusalem Post\n"The need for [Karaism], the first wide-ranging English-language introduction to the study of Karaite Judaism, is abundantly clear. In twelve concise and readable chapters, made admirably accessible to the nonspecialist, Daniel J. Lasker draws on a lifetime of research into what he calls an "alternative Judaism,"... Even though few can match the breadth of Lasker's interest or productivity, one hopes that this volume stimulates a new generation of interest in Karaism." 
Marc Herman, H-Judaic\nKaraite Judaism emerged in the ninth century in the Islamic Middle East as an alternative to the rabbinic Judaism of the Jewish majority. Karaites reject the underlying assumption of rabbinic Judaism, namely, that Jewish practice is to be based on two divinely revealed Torahs, a written one, embodied in the Five Books of Moses, and an oral one, eventually written down in rabbinic literature. Karaites accept as authoritative only the Written Torah, as they understand it, and their form of Judaism therefore differs greatly from that of most Jews. Despite its permanent minority status, Karaism has been an integral part of the Jewish people continuously for twelve centuries. It has contributed greatly to Jewish cultural achievements, while providing a powerful intellectual challenge to the majority form of Judaism.\nThis book is the first to present a comprehensive overview of the entire story of Karaite Judaism: its unclear origins; a Golden Age of Karaism in the Land of Israel; migrations through the centuries; Karaites in the Holocaust; unique Jewish religious practices, beliefs, and philosophy; biblical exegesis and literary accomplishments; polemics and historiography; and the present-day revival of the Karaite community in the State of Israel.

Karaism: An Introduction to the Oldest Surviving Alternative Judaism (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

History

Middle East

The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization

Thorough and meticulously researched, this study is based on a comprehensive reading of philosophical arguments drawn from all the major Jewish sources, published and unpublished, from the Geonic period in the ninth century until the dawn of the Haskalah in the late eighteenth century. The core of the book is a detailed discussion of the four doctrines of Christianity whose rationality Jews thought they could definitively refute: trinity, incarnation, transubstantiation, and virgin birth. In each case, Daniel Lasker presents a succinct history of the Christian doctrine and then proceeds to a careful examination of the Jewish efforts to demonstrate its impossibility. The main text is clearly and carefully written in a non-technical manner, with the Christian doctrines and the Jewish responses both carefully explained; the notes include long quotations, in Hebrew and Arabic as well as in English, from sources that are not readily available in English. At the time of its original publication in 1977 it was regarded as a major contribution to a relatively neglected area of medieval Jewish intellectual history; the new, wideranging Introduction prepared for this paperback edition, which surveys and summarizes subsequent scholarship, re-establishes its position as a major work. (PRINT ON DEMAND)

Jewish Philosophical Polemics Against Christianity in the Middle Ages: With a New Introduction (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

World

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Books by Lasker, Daniel J.