Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal

Dana Evan Kaplan

July, 2009
Cloth, 446 pages, 42 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-13728-7
$34.50 / £24.00

"Kaplan...skillfully portrays the wide variety of untraditional, often idiosyncratic, ways of 'doing Jewish.'" — Forward

"There is no better guide to the remarkable changes in American Jewish religion." — Nathan Glazer, Harvard University

"A tour de force that covers every important development in each of the branches of American Judaism, and Kaplan does it with a deep sensitivity to the issues involved." — Chaim I. Waxman, Rutgers University

"Contemporary American Judaism is a pioneering and exciting study. Dana Evan Kaplan should be highly commended for facing boldly and honestly the new realities of American Jewish life." — Yaakov Ariel, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"Spread around the world, interacting with diverse centers of communications, politics, and culture, the Jewish community is changing quickly and often in bewildering ways. But Judaism also remains a bellwether for what may be expected in other faiths as well. Dana Evan Kaplan has his finger on these changes and writes about them fairly and eloquently. You don't have to be Jewish to savor this book and learn from it." — Harvey Cox, author of When Jesus Came to Harvard: Making Moral Choices Today

Related Subjects

• American Religion
• Judaism

About the Author

Dana Evan Kaplan is the rabbi of Temple B'nai Israel in Albany, Georgia and an adjunct associate professor at the Siegal College of Jewish Studies. He received his Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University and his rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. His books include The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism, American Reform Judaism: An Introduction, Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism, and Contemporary Debates on Reform Judaism: Conflicting Visions. Many of his publications can be found at www.DanaKaplan.com.

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