Jewish apostasy in the modern world /

In his essay, ``The Jewish Factor in Medieval Civilization'' (Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 12 {{1941-42}}:13-18), Salo Baron called for studies on Jewish apostasy. This brilliant collection, focused on the modern world, is the first coherent response to Baron's challenge. Editor Endelman, in his introduction, offers an important overview of the subject's significance especially for Jewish-Christian relations in modern Europe, and Jeremy Cohen's original and penetrating conceptualization of medieval types of apostasy is a good foil for the rest of the volume devoted to 19th- and 20th-century Europe and America. In case studies that are biographical (S. Zipperstein, B. Kraut), or social (D. Hertz, T. Endelman, W. McCagg Jr., N. Stanislawski, J. Sarna, J. Gurock, W. Toll), or both (D. Ellenson, B. Braude), the contributors offer differing angles of vision of either depth or breadth and sometimes both. The book's focus has the advantage of providing intensive coverage of one crucial period, but it also points to other areas still awaiting treatment, such as Iberian Jewry after 1391; Christian Hebraists and Kabbalists in the Renaissance; the 1930s in Europe and America; and late 20th-century religious revivals in America. This pioneering and successful collection is a turning point in Jewish historical studies. For all levels.-I.G. Marcus, Jewish Theological Seminary of America