Jewish Enlightenment in an English Key

Description

"Historians of the European Jewish experience have long marginalized the intellectual achievement of Jews in England, where it was assumed no seminal figures contributed to the development of modern Jewish thought. In this first comprehensive account of the emergence of Anglo-Jewish thought in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, David Ruderman impels a reconsideration of the formative beginnings of modern European Jewish culture. He uncovers a vibrant Jewish intellectual life in England during the Enlightenment era by examining a small but fascinating group of hitherto neglected Jewish thinkers in the process of transforming their traditional Hebraic culture into a modern English one. This portrait of English Jews reformulating their tradition in light of Enlightenment categories illuminates an overlooked corner in the history of Jewish culture in England and Jewish thought during the Enlightenment."--BOOK JACKET.

First Sentence

IN 1775 a relatively obscure sephardic Jew, an immigrant from Leghorn, Italy, published his first and apparently only book in his newly adopted city of London.

Excerpt

IN 1775 a relatively obscure sephardic Jew, an immigrant from Leghorn, Italy, published his first and apparently only book in his newly adopted city of London.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Jewish Enlightenment in an English KeyHardcoverPrinceton University Press2000-11-15
• Jewish Enlightenment in an English KeyPrinceton University Press2012-01-01
• Jewish Enlightenment in an English KeyPrinceton University Press2018-01-01