Common Prayers

Faith, Family, and a Christian's Journey Through the Jewish Year

Harvey Cox

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780618257331
• eBook ISBN: 9780547416588
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Teología cristiana

A theologian explores the holidays and rituals of his wife's Jewish faith in an "accessible and engaging" memoir told "with humor and a scholar's insight" ( Los Angeles Times).
As a member of an interfaith household, eminent Christian theologian, and religion scholar, National Book Award finalist Harvey Cox has had ample opportunity to reflect upon the essence of Judaism and its complex relationship to Christianity.
Organized around the Jewish calendar from Rosh Hashanah to Yom ha-Atzmaíut, Common Prayers illuminates the meanings of Jewish holidays as well as traditions surrounding milestone events such as death and marriage. Describing in elegant, accessible language the holidays' personal, historical, and spiritual significance and the lessons they offer us, Cox "is instructive and enlightening, revealing the depth and passion of his religious thought and practice" ( Boston Herald). As seen through his eyes, the Jewish holidays offer a wellspring of discovery and reflection for every reader, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.
"Cox not only provides a clear guide to Judaism for 'perplexed gentiles' but convincingly argues that 'appreciating Judaism, both its history and its present manifestation, is essential to a full understanding of Christianity' . . . An important new book by a major theologian; highly recommended." — Library Journal
"Cox's insights into Judaism and Christianity, as both an insider and an outsider, are dazzling." — Orlando Sentinel

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Abd al-Malik, 232

Abin, Yose ben, 211

Abraham

and promised lands, 158

and Nicholas’s bar mitzvah, 262, 263–64

three traditions from, 210

Abrahamic faiths, 131, 275

Abraham and Isaac, 31–33

Kierkegaard on, 33–34

and lesson of Jerusalem, 210

and “the Other,” 35–36

and Temple site, 232

Adam, Chapel of, 201

Adam and Eve, 50–51, 51, 65, 75

Adolescents

deep emotions of, 19

rites of passge for, 260

as secret theologians, 269

Adoration of the Cross, 136

After Auschwitz (Rubenstein), 149

Afterlife

in Christian belief, 213–14

in Jewish belief, 213, 214

Ahad Ha’am, on Sabbath, 9

Ahahoron, Yaariv Ben, 120

Ahasuerus (king of Persia), 101, 103–5

Al-Anon, 29

Al-Aqsa Mosque, 169, 232, 233

Alcoholics Anonymous, 29

Alexander the Great, 85

Alienation, and Jewish exile, 181–82

Allenby, Sir Edmund, 164, 191

Alpert, Rebecca, 253

Alter of Ger, Rabbi Yehudah Leib, 38

Amalekites, 236–37, 238

Ambrose, Saint, 213

American Reform Judaism, 30–31

American religion, emotional and expressive side of, 31

American Revolution, and HC’s ancestors, 256

Amidah, 13

Amish, 88, 256

Anger, of father, 241

Anti-Defamation League, 152

Antiochus Epiphanes, 83, 86, 93

Anti-Semitism, Christian. See Christian anti-Semitism or anti-Judaism

Anti-Semitism, racial, 146

Apocalyptic mentality, 59

Apostomus (Roman governor), 74

A Propos restaurant, Tel Aviv, 185, 190, 192, 204

Arab-Israeli conflict

A Propos restaurant bombing, 190, 192, 204

at Bethlehem checkpoint, 205

and Cox family in Nazareth, 189–90

over Har Homa housing project, 203

Intifada II, 169,...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• A Cathedral in Time
• Starting Over at the Right Time of Year
• Closing the Big Book
• The Strength of Fragility
• Gamboling with God
• December Madness
• Funny Masks and Texts of Terror
• A Night Different from All Others
• After All the Apologies
• The Meaning of the Land
• “Next Year in Jerusalem”
• Death Among the Jews
• Lady Sings the Blues
• Under and After the Canopy
• The Boy Becomes a Man
• Afterword
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with HMH