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Tensions as Resources in Jewish Historical Civilizational Experience*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2009

Shmuel N. Eisenstadt
Shmuel N. Eisenstadt*
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute [miriamb@vanleer.org.il].
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Abstract

The article analyzes in a comparative framework the Jewish historical experience as a distinct – the first monotheistic – Axial civilization and the major characteristics thereof. Special emphasis is given to the multivalence of the major components of the cultural orientations, collective consciousness and institutional premises as they bear on its long historical continuity and their major carriers, including heterodoxies. The article points out some of the major differences of the modern Jewish historical experience as compared with medieval history.

Résumé

L'article analyse en perspective comparée l'expérience historique juive, civilisation axiale particulière – la première qui soit monothéiste – et ses caractéristiques principales. Il accorde une importance particulière à la pluralité de sens des principales composantes de la culture, de la conscience collective et des dispositions institutionnelles, porteuses dans une longue continuité historique même des hétérodoxies. Il finit avec une mise en évidence de quelques-unes des différences majeures entre l'expérience juive contemporaine comparée à son histoire médiévale.

Zusammenfassung

Die vergleichende Studie widmet sich der geschichtlichen jüdischen Erfahrung, eine besondere axiale Kultur – die erste monotheistische – und ihre Besonderheiten. Ein großer Platz wird der Sinnesvielfalt der wichtigsten kulturellen Komponenten, des Gemeinschaftsinns und institutionnellen Prämissen eingeräumt, die über einen langen historischen Zeitraum Träger der Heterodoxie sind. Der Aufsatz endet mit einem Vergleich der größten Unterschiede zwischen der jüdischen Gegenwartserfahrung und seiner mittelalterlichen Komponente.

Keywords

Jewish historical experienceAxial civilizationsMonotheismHeterodoxiesExpérience historique juiveCivilisation axialeMonothéismeHétérodoxiesJüdische GeschichtserfahrungAxiale KulturMonotheismusHeterodoxie
Type
Jewish Institutions and Practices
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , August 2009 , pp. 233 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2009

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