The beginnings of Jewishness : boundaries, varieties, uncertainties / Shaye J.D. Cohen.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 381-392) and indexes.

Print version record.

pt. I. Who was a Jew? -- 1. Was Herod Jewish? -- 2. "Those Who Say They Are Jews and Are Not": How Do You Know a Jew in Antiquity When You See One? -- 3. Ioudaios, Iudaeus, Judaean, Jew -- pt. II. The Boundary Crossed: Becoming a Jew -- 4. From Ethnos to Ethno-religion -- 5. Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew -- 6. Ioudaizein, "to Judaize" -- 7. The Rabbinic Conversion Ceremony -- pt. III. The Boundary Violated: The Union of Diverse Kinds -- 8. The Prohibition of Intermarriage -- 9. The Matrilineal Principle -- 10. Israelite Mothers, Israelite Fathers: Matrilineal Descent and the Inequality of the Convert -- Epilogue: Jews, Judaism, and Jewishness: Us and them -- App. A. Was Martial's Slave Jewish? -- App. B. Was Menophilus Jewish? -- App. C. Was Trophimus Jewish? -- App. D. Was Timothy Jewish?

In modern times, various Jewish groups have argued whether Jewishness is a function of ethnicity (membership in a descent group, a function of birth), nationality (citizenship in a state, a function of politics), religion (membership in a group characterized by various beliefs and practices), or all three. These fundamental conceptions were already in place in antiquity; the peculiar combination of ethnicity, nationality, and religion that would characterize Jewishness through the centuries first took shape in the second century B.C.E.

This book studies the ways in which these elements were understood and applied in the construction of Jewish identity - by Jews, by gentiles and by the state - in such a way that the question "Who was a Jew?" could be variously answered.

English.

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