Jewish–Christian Difference and Modern Jewish Identity

Seven Twentieth-Century Converts

Shalom Goldman

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2015
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780739196090
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

This book is an exploration of what would seem to be a simple question, but is actually the object of a profound quest—"who is a Jew?" This is a deeply complex issue, both within Judaism, and in interactions between Jews and Christians. Jewish–Christian Difference and Modern Jewish Identity: Seven Twentieth-Century Converts contends that in the twentieth century the Jewish–Christian relationship has changed to the extent that definitions of Jewish identity were reshaped. The stories of the seven influential and creative converts that are related in this book indicate that the borders dividing the Jewish and Christian faiths are, for many, more fluid and permeable than ever before.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue: Demons’ Wager
• Who Is A Jew?
• The Conversions of Ruth Ben David: (Madeleine Feraille, 1920–2000)
• Jean-Marie Lustiger, the “Jewish Cardinal” (1926–2007)
• Donato Manduzio and the Converts of San Nicandro: A Group Conversion to Judaism in 1940s Italy (Donato Manduzio, 1885–1948)
• Happy About His Conversion, Miserable About His Apostasy: The 1945 Apostasy of Rabbi Zolli Revisited (Israel Zolli, 1881–1956)
• “Ruth from the Banks of the Volga”: Elisheva Bikhovsky (Elizaveta Ivanova Zhirkova, 1888–1949)
• Apostasy and Citizenship: The Case of Brother Daniel (Oswald Rufeisen, 1922–1998)
• Moishe Rosen, Founder of Jews for Jesus (1932–2010)
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author