bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Immortality
Authors: Fischer John Martin
Published: December 2012

This chapter, which analyzes questions about death and immortality, explains the different notions of immortality and discusses three challenges to the idea that any kind of immortality could be appealing to us. It proposes ways of responding to these challenges and argues against the view of the Immortality Curmudgeons, which holds that immortality is not necessarily of any positive value to human beings.
The Makropulos Case RevisitedReflections on Immortality and Agency
Authors: Rosati Connie
Published: December 2012

This chapter analyzes the issue of immortality in the opera “The Makropulos Case” and reviews Bernard Williams's essay inspired by the opera, which argues against immortality. It suggests that the widespread longing for an extended existence is an expression of our agency and that the rational appeal of extended existence rests on the fact that human beings are autonomous agents with a distinctively agential character.
Abortion and Death
Authors: Marquis Don
Published: December 2012

This chapter, which examines views about abortion and death, discusses claims about abortion and explains some ways for considering these claims to be true. It analyzes whether abortion causes the death of a fetus and whether bringing death to a fetus greatly harms it, also discussing the relevant issues of nonsentient fetus, intermediate judgment argument, and the unequal harm of death judgment.
The Morality of Killing in War
Authors: Kamm F.M.
Published: December 2012

This chapter examines traditional and nontraditional views about the morality aspect of killing in war, explaining that these views are derivative of deeper nonconsenqualist perspectives in ethics. It analyzes some aspects of standard just war theory, discusses the concept of jus in bello and collateral harm to noncombatants, and also offers alternatives to the standard jus in bello, including the equality thesis and moral equality or conventional equality.
The Significance of Death for Animals
Authors: Norcross Alastair
Published: December 2012

This chapter examines different views about the significance of death for animals. It discusses the opinion of Jeremy Bentham that animals are “never the worse being dead” and Peter Singer's distinction between self-conscious and non-self-conscious animals. The chapter argues that the death of a merely sentient animal is morally significant because it prevents the existence of well-being, while the death of a self-conscious animal is personally significant.
The Alleviation of Poverty: How Far Have We Come?
Authors: Plotnick Robert D.
Published: December 2012

This article assesses poverty rates in the United States. It examines data from 1965 to 2010 on alternative measures of poverty, which include market poverty, adjusted income poverty, relative poverty, and official poverty. Across measures, there is evidence of progress in the 1960s and 1970s, but this ceased around 1980. The poverty rate is divided into three components: changes in market poverty among subgroups of the overall population, changes in the antipoverty impact of income-support programs, and changes in demographic structure. Market poverty has been exacerbated by the anemic growth in real earnings of low-skilled workers. The antipoverty impact of income-support programs fell in the early 1980s when traditional transfer programs were replaced by term-limited or work-based programs. Important demographic changes include an increase in the relative size of the elderly population, the influx of immigrants, and the rising proportion of children living with a single parent. The net effect of these changes has been stasis in the overall poverty rate that has been calculated based on traditional methods.
Consumption and Income Poverty in the United States
Authors: Meyer Bruce D. , Sullivan James X.
Published: December 2012

This article reports estimates of consumption and income poverty in the U.S. from 1960 to 2009. It argues that consumption-based poverty is a better measure of well-being because of the ability of consumption to capture flows from the ownership of durable goods, the insurance value of government programs, access to credit, and the accumulation of assets. It describes how consumption poverty is measured, and highlights the important role of the inflation index, which is used to update poverty thresholds. If official poverty thresholds are adjusted for the biases in the consumer price index (CPI), then income poverty is lower than that reported in the official statistics. Who is determined to be poor and what the poverty rate is can differ across poverty measures. In the 2000s, consumption and income poverty moved in different directions. Consumption poverty fell while income poverty using a corrected CPI rose. The article concludes with suggestions for future research and for working around some technical limitations associated with a consumption-based measure of poverty.
Poverty Lines across the World
Authors: Ravallion Martin
Published: December 2012

This article considers alternative views of how to define and estimate the poverty line. Low-income countries tend to use absolute measures of poverty while high-income countries tend to use relative measures of poverty. Using a sample of ninety-five countries, it shows that for all but the poorest fifth of countries, there is a positive relationship between the poverty line and average consumption. The relationship holds for high- and low-income countries grouped separately. This suggests that even countries that deploy absolute poverty measures are sensitive to local conceptions of what it means to be poor. A method called “ weakly relative poverty lines” is proposed for drawing the poverty line with both absolute and relative components. Empirically, poverty lines that are drawn using this method fit well with the cross-sectional distribution of poverty lines worldwide. These lines are relatively flat across low-income countries, and beyond a certain consumption per capita threshold, they rise with average consumption across middle- and high-income countries. Weakly relative poverty lines are welfare-consistent and that they should be considered for broad adoption.
Theories of Poverty
Authors: Johnson Christopher K. , Mason Patrick L.
Published: December 2012

This article begins with an examination of the evidence in support of traditional explanations of poverty: labor market and macroeconomic conditions; family structure; and government policy and programs. It argues that these explanations provide a useful but ultimately incomplete understanding of poverty. It then considers alternative explanations that are under-researched in the United States: social capital and social exclusion. Social capital is defined as “the social and economic spaces in which individuals reside and which provides them with certain group interactions, networks, and resources that help to inform their strategic actions that provide access to public and private resources.” Social exclusion occurs when individuals do not have access to standards of well-being, such as health care, education, and affordable housing.
Poverty and the Labor Market
Authors: Lang Kevin
Published: December 2012

This article examines the links between poverty and the U.S. labor market. The first part argues that the labor market continues to exert a strong influence on the poverty rate. There is a strong relation between prevailing wages and the poverty rate. The poverty rate closely tracks median earnings of adult men and is even more closely related to wages at lower percentiles in the wage distribution. The unemployment rate also has a modest effect on the poverty rate. The second part of the article examines some labor market policies to reduce poverty. It focuses on the earned-income tax credit, minimum-wage laws, and job-training programs. It reviews evaluations of the Workforce Investment Act, the Job Training Partnership Act, and Job Corps. Finally, it considers the debate over whether putting welfare recipients into work first or into training first is more effective.
Low-Skilled Immigrants and the US Labor Market
Authors: Duncan Brian , Trejo Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

This article discusses the labor market integration of immigrants, the socioeconomic attainment of the U.S.-born descendants of immigrants, and the impact of immigration on the wages and employment opportunities of native workers. Using pooled cross-sectional data on men from the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey, it shows that the employment rates of low-skilled adult immigrants are very high (> 90 percent). Immigrants' wages, however, are low relative to native men of comparable education. The longer immigrants stay in the country, the smaller the earnings gap is, particularly if their English proficiency is high. Comparison of second-generation and third-generation immigrants shows that there are no big differences across the groups in employment rates or earnings. Comparison of first-generation and third-generation immigrants shows that first-generation immigrants work more and earn less even after correcting for education. The big differences across generations are evident when the data are sorted by race/ethnicity. Any analysis of intergenerational progress is likely to be biased if “selective ethnic attrition” is not taken into account. The article concludes that increased immigration is likely to have had only a modest negative effect on low-skilled native workers.
Poverty and Low Earnings in the Developing World
Authors: Fields Gary S.
Published: December 2012

This article examines the relationship between poverty and labor markets in the developing-country context. It details the labor markets and types of work in which the poor are engaged. It then examines policies that have been put into effect to help the poor earn their way out of poverty. These include growth, trade, and aid; harnessing the energies of the private sector; expanding paid employment and increasing the returns to self-employment. The article concludes by highlighting some areas for future research.
Macroeconomic Fluctuations and Poverty
Authors: Jefferson Philip N. , Kim Kunhee
Published: December 2012

This article examines the dynamic relationship between macroeconomic performance and measures of poverty in the United States. The article is organized as follows. Section 2 presents insights on the relationship between poverty and macroeconomic performance that emerge from the literature. The emphasis is on empirical studies from 1986 to 2011. Section 3 provides a snapshot of the change in poverty over National Bureau of Economic Research-dated recessions for a variety of poverty measures. Section 4 uses vector autoregressions (VARs) to characterize the response of poverty to innovations in various social indicators and measures of macroeconomic performance. Section 5 expands the empirical analysis to include alternative measures of poverty—a consumption-based poverty rate constructed by Meyer and Sullivan (2010) and an income-based poverty rate constructed by Broda and colleagues (2009) by using a consumer price index that has been adjusted for substitution and quality bias. Section 6 conducts a forecasting exercise for income poverty and consumption poverty. Section 7 concludes and offers suggestions for future research.
Payday Lending
Authors: Caskey John P.
Published: December 2012

Payday lending is controversial. In the states that allow it, payday lenders make cash loans that are typically for $500 or less, and the borrower must repay or renew the loan on his or her next payday. The finance charge for the loan is usually 15 to 20 percent of the amount advanced, so for a typical two-week loan the annual percentage interest rate is about 400 percent. This article describes the payday-lending business and explains why it presents challenging public-policy issues. It surveys recent research that attempts to answer the “big question,” one that is fundamental to the public-policy dispute: Do payday lenders, on net, exacerbate or relieve customers' financial difficulties? The article argues that despite research efforts of a talented group of economists, we still don't know the answer to the big question.
Are Economists in Over Their Heads?
Authors: O’Neil Kevin S. , Tienda Marta
Published: December 2012

Sociologists see economic decisions as being “embedded” in social relationships, just as psychologists see economic decisions as being embedded in a life of the mind. While the idea of social embeddedness is not new to economists, its role in creating and perpetuating poverty is not yet well captured in economic thought. This article discusses three overlapping levels of social embeddedness relevant to poverty. First, it considers the economic implications of interpersonal social networks: “social capital” as the concept has been developed and expanded by sociologists distinctly from their fellow social scientists. Next, it discusses how long-standing and ongoing cumulative social processes accentuate and accelerate the dynamics of poverty among social groups. Neighborhoods and racial groups are powerful examples of social groups where poverty dynamics are often self-reinforcing. Finally, it reviews how identity and culture influence economic decisions. In particular, it considers both how self-identification with social groups shapes behavioral choices and their attendant consequences, and how some social norms that constrain the choices of poor people are surprisingly resistant to change even in the face of radically altered economic circumstances.
A New Statistic
Authors: Jefferson Philip N.
Published: December 2012

In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau formally introduced a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM)—a response to the view that the official poverty rate does not provide an accurate count of who is poor in the United States. This article describes the SPM and highlights some of the strengths and limitations of this new statistic. The SPM improves on the official poverty measure by accounting for in-kind benefits and expenses in the calculation of resources, and by using data on expenditures on food, clothing, shelter, and utilities in the calculation of poverty thresholds. Further, these thresholds are adjusted for geographical differences in housing costs and are updated by using a moving average of expenditures. For 2010, the SPM poverty rates suggest a significant change in the composition of poverty in the United States relative to that suggested by the official measure. In particular, the SPM suggests that child poverty is less prevalent and that poverty among the elderly is more prevalent. It also suggests that poverty is more prevalent in the Northeast and Western regions of the country and less prevalent in the Midwest and Southern regions.
Introduction: Leadership in Five Parts
Authors: Rumsey Michael G.
Published: December 2012

This chapter addresses the multiple perspectives on leadership. Advancing the notion of each perspective adds to the understanding of the complex phenomenon of leadership. The concept of leadership is enlaced with the concept of power, but is in many ways more sublime, profound, and significant than power. Context can help determine the nature of the leadership phenomenon. It is noted that the issue of culture plays a striking role in the leadership phenomenon. Leaders in an educational environment have multiple role demands. Moreover, transformational leadership integrates leader charisma as one of “four behavioral components of the leader.” In general, leadership research has come a long way, but its progress has not always been smooth. Advances have not always built on previous advances, but have often veered off in new directions.
The Attributes of Successful Leaders: A Performance Requirements Approach
Authors: Zaccaro Stephen , LaPort Kate , José Irwin
Published: December 2012

This chapter explores the attributes of successful leaders from the perspective of a performance requirements approach, providing a broad overview of determined factors within the context of performance requirements of successful leaders. It describes three broad domains of leadership requirements: cognitive, social, and motivational. The survey of leader performance requirements summarizes the conceptual basis for an array of attributes, arranged in discrete sets, which are likely to differentiate successful from unsuccessful leaders. There has also been a recent increase in the number of multivariate studies of leadership that do draw from these different sets of prescribed leader attributes. It is noted that cognitive, social, self-motivational, and other sets of leader individual differences are linked with leadership outcomes. The research domain on the attributes of successful leaders can provide some rich insights to both leader researchers and practitioners.
Personality and Leadership
Authors: Hogan Robert , Judge Timothy
Published: December 2012

This chapter investigates the connections between personality and leadership in order to clarify the leadership effectiveness. It is noted that the effect of personality is not always positive; that there is both a “bright side” and a “dark side” to personality. It is discussed that those specific aspects of both the bright side and the dark side have been shown to be most influential. The connections between personality and leadership can be assessed through the connections between the bright side and leadership; between the dark side of personality and leadership; and between personality and leadership using data based on implicit leadership theory. Data show that personality and effective leadership are associated, and the two key factors mediating the link are the leader's socio-political intelligence, and the degree to which the leader is seen as having integrity. Leaders make a difference (for good or ill) in firm performance.
The WICS Model of Leadership
Authors: Sternberg Robert J.
Published: December 2012

This chapter discusses the wisdom, intelligence, creativity, synthesized (WICS) theory of leadership. This WICS model indicates that a synthesis of wisdom, intelligence, and creativity offers a powerful basis for explaining leader success. Perceptions of leaders are filtered through stories. Ethics is significant in wisdom and in leadership development. It is suggested that ethical reasoning does not just “happen.” WICS provides a way of understanding leadership as a set of cognitive-decision processes embodying wisdom, intelligence, and creativity. An effective leader requires creative skills and dispositions to come up with ideas, analytical/academic skills and dispositions to determine whether they are good ideas, practical skills and dispositions to make the ideas work and convince others of the value of the ideas, and wisdom-based skills and dispositions to assure that the ideas are in the service of the common good.
Inclusive Leadership and Idiosyncrasy Credit in Leader-Follower Relations1
Authors: Hollander Edwin P.
Published: December 2012

This chapter considers the inclusive leadership and idiosyncrasy credit (IC). It is argued that the assumption that an exchange link between leader and follower occurs only for leaders who are described as transactional and not for those described as transformational is false; that is, both types of leader give benefits to followers in exchange for influence. The theme of inclusion improves the leader–follower relationship and yields effective team performance in groups and organizations. The IC model displays how earned credits allow a leader to emerge and take actions that would be perceived to be deviations if someone with less credit introduced them. The exercise of power has costs. The actuality of the transaction between leader and followers is normally refused in explaining the transforming leadership phenomenon. The IC model details some of the relational dynamics of leadership and followership impacting positive changes in teams or organizations.
Overview of Future Research Directions for Team Leadership
Authors: Graen George B.
Published: December 2012

This chapter concentrates on proposed future research directions for team leadership. It investigates the emerging trends in team leadership from a variety of perspectives: the leader-centric approach, the team-centric approach, the self-concept approach, and the leadership network approach. The chapter also reports an updated version of LMX, called Leadership Motivated Xcellence, which stresses the significance of forging alliances with subordinates and with peers, supervisors, and others. It is noted that once interpersonal strategic alliances are established and tested, they become the raw material for the formation of team leadership. Individuals placed in charge of business units and their incumbents may have varying levels of two basic competences: (1) administrative competence for the first system, and (2) team leadership competence for the second system. Team leadership finds itself on the launching pad making final preparations to leap far beyond corporate “best practices.”
Cross-Cultural Leadership
Authors: Kumar Rajiv , Chhokar Jagdeep S.
Published: December 2012

This chapter determines cultural differences, such as individualism versus collectivism and long-term versus short-term orientation, and also argues that directive leadership may be more problematic in individualistic cultures. Culture has a role in the difference between self and others' rating in 360-degree feedback. The GLOBE project resulted in the determination of nine dimensions of societal culture: performance orientation, future orientation, gender egalitarianism, assertiveness, in-group collectivism, institutional collectivism, power distance, humane orientation, and uncertainty avoidance. It is observed that although some leadership behaviors vary less across cultures, others vary more. The GLOBE studies have shown that six second-order factors of leadership attributes were endorsed across cultures, and also revealed charismatic/value-based leadership to be universally endorsed. Cross-cultural studies using transformational leadership indicate that there are similarities and differences between the nature and effect of transformational leadership across cultures.
Genes, Memes, and the Evolution of Human Leadership
Authors: Birnbaum Robert
Published: December 2012

This chapter employs an interpretation of human evolution to argue that leadership is collectively and misleadingly used, and then provides the word leadership with a more precise meaning. The development of the potential for human influence is then reviewed. Evolutionary processes empower the brains of species with similar adaptations needed for their survival and reproduction. Considering the development of cognitive modules as prehumans and humans moved from the Forest to the Gardens and then to the State can offer novel ways of thinking about the evolution of human leadership. The development of language, theory of mind, culture, and morality decrease reliance on the hierarchy to control the behavior of others. An evolutionary view confirms that human influence is connected to genetic predispositions, individual differences, environments with various characteristics manifested under different circumstances, the nature of others in the group, and the culture in which these all exist.
Leadership in the Profession of Arms
Authors: Hannah Sean T. , Sowde Walter J.
Published: December 2012

This chapter reviews the unique causations and contingencies influencing leadership in military contexts, and evaluates how the context influences individual, dyadic, and collective leadership processes. An exemplary ethic is important for any profession of arms. Leadership in military settings may vary between stages of preparation, in situ action, and recovery from dangerous events. Beyond attraction and selection processes, militaries produce “strong” situational influence and socialization processes, and also develop forms of leadership through social learning. The attraction, selection, and attrition (ASA) model can make unique homogeneity effects in militaries associated with both demographic and values diversity. Then, the chapter describes the representative effects of the military context related to emotions and physiological reaction, sense making, cognition and judgment, identity and self-complexity, states and traits, and motivation. Context and group social phenomenon should be considered in models of military leadership.
Leadership in Higher Education
Authors: Hollander Edwin P.
Published: December 2012

This chapter reviews the diverse constituencies and expectations associated with leadership in higher education. Balancing interests of campus constituencies and those of alumni and external accrediting bodies makes leadership in higher education especially demanding. Attention to follower perceptions and related responses is basic to the leader role, and is probably to be significant in reaching mutual goals. Academic leadership will influence people's lives, hopes, and well-being. Evaluating successful performance in higher education leadership involves a multitude of criteria, not necessarily consistent with each other, but systemically related. A president needs to be able to confront ambiguous situations with insufficient information. Basic to the social contract between leaders and their constituents is the expectation that the former will serve the latter with responsibility, respect, fairness, and honest dealings.
Charismatic Leadership
Authors: Conger Jay A.
Published: December 2012

This chapter addresses charismatic leadership. It explores the more recent literature on the leader's behavior, the followers' behavior and motives, the leader's and followers' psychological profiles, contextual influences, forces that institutionalize the outcomes of the leader–follower relationship, and the liabilities of charismatic leaders. It first considers Max Weber's insights into charismatic leadership. The search for a universal set of qualities common to all charismatic political and religious leaders would not yield decisive results. Charismatic leaders change the nature of work by making it appear more heroic, morally correct, and meaningful. It is observed that institutionalization of the leader's charisma is a fragile affair and, therefore, rare. In terms of impression management, charismatic leaders seem prone to exaggerated self-descriptions and claims for their visions, which can mislead. It is clear that there are behaviors linked with charismatic leaders which distinguish them from other forms.
From Transactional and Transformational Leadership to Authentic Leadership
Authors: Walumbwa Fred O. , Wernsing Tara
Published: December 2012

This chapter connects transformational leadership, transactional leadership, authentic leadership, and one form of nonleadership, namely laissez-faire leadership. It describes how the authentic leadership approach developed out of the transformational leadership approach. Transactional leadership is based on exchange; in business, this is often financial rewards for productivity, whereas transformational leadership is a process of inspiring people to attain shared goals through recognizing individuals' needs, stimulating creative thinking, and aligning values between individuals and groups. Transactional and transformational leadership constitute the active components of what has been called the full-range leadership theory. Data verify that “transformational leadership can indeed be learned.” The influence of authentic leadership on rated performance was fully mediated through leaders' influence on followers' positivity. It is concluded that developing more genuine and authentic leadership will serve to improve more positive and intentional forms of leadership in this world.
Leadership, the Old, the New, and the Timeless: A Commentary
Authors: Campbell John
Published: December 2012

This chapter investigates the conflicting theories through the prism of leader job performance. Its basic assertion is that much of the confusion and conflict subsides if leadership theory and research is interpreted within a general model of performance itself, including its determinants and its outcomes. The models of leadership are described and interpreted within such a model of performance, and are found to be complementary, not in conflict. The revised Campbell model states eight major substantive factors at the highest level of generality that appear to be useful. The labels for the eight factors are: technical performance, communication performance, effort and initiative, counterproductive work behavior, peer leadership, hierarchical leadership, peer management, and hierarchical management. These factors address the substantive content of individual work performance when performance is defined. Authentic leadership seems not in competition with, or an alternative for, transformational leadership.
Leader Effectiveness: Who Really is the Leader?
Authors: Mumford Michael D. , Barrett Jamie D.
Published: December 2012

This chapter argues that leadership effectiveness is a complex topic, and explores the critical boundary conditions which must be taken into account in appraising leader effectiveness. The major strategies used to appraise leader effectiveness are then elaborated. The implications of these methods for appraising leader effectiveness are examined with respect to both theory development and practice. The amount and nature of the discretion granted by an individual forms an important boundary condition under which appraisal of leader effectiveness occurs. Substantive measures must be judiciously employed to appraise leader effectiveness. Social outcomes measures appraise the outcomes emerging from the exercise of influence. Appraisals of leader effectiveness that are either too early or too late will prove of little value. A substantive analysis of how effective leadership will be showed should offer the basis for selection of the set of effectiveness measures being applied.
Destructive Leadership
Authors: Craig S. Bartholomew , Kaiser Robert B.
Published: December 2012

This chapter investigates the other side of leadership effectiveness: destructive leadership. It brings the conceptual clarity to the “dark side” of leadership, and determines the “six distinct areas of inquiry relevant to destructive leadership”: unethical leadership, “the dark side of charisma, narcissistic leadership, abusive supervision, toxic leadership, and negligent, or laissez-faire, leadership.” Leadership roles facilitate the achievement of organizational goals. The construct of unethical leadership is significant for both the decision-making and interpersonal influence that link leader behavior and organizational outcomes. The dark side of charisma has obvious implications for leaders' destructive effects on organizational outcomes via the interpersonal path. The consequences of laissez-faire leadership for destructive decision making would appear to be a potentially fruitful and relatively untapped avenue for future research. It is noted that setting the stage for a future theory will incorporate the bright and dark sides of leadership within a single framework.
The Elusive Science of Leadership
Authors: Rumsey Michael G.
Published: December 2012

This chapter, which provides some overall comments concerning the current state of leadership research and some thoughts about potentially fruitful directions, explores leadership as a science. The word leadership has been used so broadly as to permeate every aspect of society. A “paradigm shift” has become a popular expression for the process by which one changes one's assumptions about a particular scientific field. Many of the evident points of disagreement between alternative leadership theories may melt away when the terminology used is consistent and clear. The deficiency in a clear definition of the field of study is the fundamental difficulty in advancing leadership science. Effectiveness “is not solely determined by the performance of a particular individual even if that individual is one of the organization's critical leaders.”
The Nature of Jewish Studies
Authors: Goodman Martin
Published: December 2012

The recognition of Jewish studies as an area of knowledge worthy of research and teaching in universities is a quite recent phenomenon. From an exceedingly small base in the first half of the twentieth century, the subject has now burgeoned. The great centres for research and teaching reflect the main contemporary centres of the Jewish population, Israel and North America, but Jewish studies are also now taught in other countries where Jews live in large numbers. This explosion of interest, particularly since the 1960s, has led to a massive increase in the number of scholars for whom research in Jewish studies forms a significant part of their academic careers. The discoveries and assertions of scholars about aspects of Jewish culture and the Jewish past are as influential in moulding the Jewish self-consciousness of secular diaspora Jews as the writings of Zionist academics have been in the creation of Israeli identity.
Biblical Studies and Jewish Studies
Authors: Cooper Alan
Published: December 2012

This article examines two commentaries on Leviticus, Jews in the mainstream, biblical versus post-biblical literature, and the pre-critical, critical, and post-critical stances. It describes two particular developments within biblical studies that may be ascribed to the influence of Jewish biblical scholarship. Both of them, broadly speaking, entail the recognition that the Bible (that is, the Tanakh) is a Jewish book, and both therefore legitimate the study of the Bible in its Jewish contexts. This view of the Bible is both a point of entry for Jewish scholars into critical biblical scholarship, and also the potential meeting-ground for biblical scholars with their colleagues in Jewish studies. Interaction between specialists in those fields may yield important new insights into the formation of the Jewish Bible, and into the way the Bible, in turn, has served to shape Jewish mentalities and communities throughout the ages.
Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period
Authors: Goodman Martin
Published: December 2012

For all Jews in this period, in both diaspora and homeland, the Jerusalem Temple was the central religious institution. The wide dispersal of Jews prevented many from regular participation in Temple worship, but no religious Jew seem to have ignored the significance of the sacrificial and other offerings in Jerusalem. The second pillar of common Judaism was the Torah. It was during these centuries that the biblical text took a form resembling that of the present day and acquired something close to its later authority. Most of the debate about the relation of Jews to the surrounding culture has concentrated on the Hellenization of Judaism. The motivation of Christian scholars for investigating the relationship of Judaism and Hellenism has naturally been very different and more concerned with the origins of ideas found in the early Church.
The Literature of the Second Temple Period
Authors: Collins John J.
Published: December 2012

Strictly speaking, the Second Temple period extends from the construction of the temple at the end of the sixth century bce to its destruction by the Romans in 70 ce. Some scholars would now argue that the entire biblical corpus belongs in this period. Even if one accepts the more traditional dating of biblical sources, the final edition of the Torah must be placed after the Exile. This article deals with this literature. The literature may be divided into three categories, based on provenance more than on literary genre, although each category has its own characteristics. These are the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; the Dead Sea scrolls; and the literature of the Greek-speaking diaspora. The first and third categories were preserved by Christians, the second was only recently recovered from the caves by the Dead Sea.
Classical Rabbinic Literature
Authors: Hezser Catherine
Published: December 2012

Classical rabbinic literature comprises all those ancient Jewish literary compilations which transmit the traditions of tannaitic (70–200 ce) and amoraic (third-to fifth-century ce) rabbis in Palestine and Babylonia: the Mishnah, the Tosefta, the Palestinian and the Babylonian Talmud, and various midrashim. Accordingly, rabbinic literature must be seen as a collective rather than an authorial literature, transmitting a wide variety of partly divergent and contradictory views and teachings rather than providing a linear systematic outline of a particular individual's point of view. The critical study of rabbinic literature began in the nineteenth century with the so-called Wissenschaft des Judentums (Science of Judaism), whose representatives began to apply to rabbinic texts historical and philological methods which were also used in other fields of the humanities. The application of methods and theories from related fields such as literary theory allows one to see the texts from a new perspective.
Medieval Jewry In Christendom
Authors: Ben-Shalom Ram
Published: December 2012

This article begins in the early Middle Ages, and specifically addresses questions concerning the economic and political situation of Jewry in Western Europe. The period of the high Middle Ages follows, with a focus on developments in community life and the character of Jewish society. The discussion considers the Jewish foundation myths that were born in the twelfth century in an attempt to explain and interpret the social and cultural changes of the time. It examines the nature of the interaction and the form of discourse that characterized the medieval relations between a Christian majority and a Jewish minority culture. It also describes the legal status of the Jews in Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire. The article also discusses Jewish life in Spain, since, for a significant segment of the period under study, Spain was under Muslim rule.
Rabbinic Literature in the Middle Ages 1000–1492
Authors: Ta-Shma Israel
Published: December 2012

This article deals with rabbinic literature, considering what rabbis wrote in the context of performing their rabbinic functions: halachic literature in all its aspects — talmudic commentary, books of legal decisions, responsa, halachic monographs, works on prayer and liturgy, the holidays, and customs. The corpus of medieval rabbinic texts, which is today witnessing a renaissance, constitutes the basis of what is called mishpat ivri (Jewish law). It is possible to describe this literature according to four different categories: geography, chronology, content, and literary genre. The description here is related to content and literary genre, while taking note of geographical and chronological divisions. The books were mostly from European countries — Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Provence. Rabbinic literature began to be produced in all the European regions more or less at the beginning of the eleventh century.
Settlement and State in Eretz Israel
Authors: Troen Ilan
Published: December 2012

While Zionist ideology has long been part of the rubric of Jewish history, the study of its realization through the social, cultural, and political history of the Yishuv and Israel has been relatively neglected. The Jews of Eretz Israel (‘the Land of Israel’) numbered less than half of 1% of world Jewry at the beginning of the twentieth century. Israel now accounts for about 40% and is approaching parity with the United States. Israeli history and society has only recently become a discrete topic or field of study within the humanities and social sciences, and included in university curricula, even in Israel. Change began in Israel in the early 1990s, when various collections of courses under the title of ‘Israel Studies’ were organized as a modest subset within the BA degree.
The Hebrew Language
Authors: Halevi (Kirtchuk) Pablo-Isaac
Published: December 2012

This article discusses the revival of Hebrew, linguistic characterization, typology, the study of Hebrew, the Muslim world in the first centuries of the Hegira, Hebrew among the Karaites, and the role of Hebrew in the modern era. The term ‘Hebrew’ designates a language which has been the Jewish people's linguistic vehicle of cult, culture, and communication. Hebrew ceased to be spoken in the third century ce and persisted only in a written form. From the third century onwards Hebrew continued to be used for juridical, intellectual, philosophical, poetic, and liturgical purposes but not for daily oral communication. In Muslim Spain, written Hebrew acquired some new characteristics: it is Medieval Hebrew (MdH). At the turn of the twentieth century it became anew the mother tongue of an ever-increasing population.
Modern Hebrew Literature
Authors: Abramson Glenda
Published: December 2012

The assumption that Israeli Hebrew literature has a unique and transformative significance in Israeli culture is argued sociologically, historically, theoretically, and aesthetically. It was only in the eighteenth century, with the Hebrew Enlightenment, the Haskalah, that secular Hebrew literature was able to develop. Before then, Jewish intellectual activity had been confined almost exclusively to religious writings. This literature grew in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries mainly in the areas of Jewish settlement in Eastern Europe. Today, there are over 3 million Hebrew-speakers in Israel alone. A flourishing literature is being written there in Hebrew, composed of fiction, poetry, and drama. The growth of the Hebrew language has contributed to the viability, and therefore to the adoption, of new literary genres. Modern Hebrew literature has established a clear national identity, responsive at last to its own territorial conditions, expressed in a literary language which is finally also a vernacular.
Yiddish Studies
Authors: Kuznitz Cecile E.
Published: December 2012

This article describes the roots of Yiddish studies and its changing geography, Yiddish's role as a post-vernacular language, Yiddish studies as a post-ideological field, the continued ideological conflict over Yiddish's post-vernacular status, and trends in Yiddish publishing. The notion of including Yiddish studies as a distinct discipline within the wider field of Jewish studies would have been virtually inconceivable before the First World War. By the end of the Second World War, the Holocaust had devastated the Jewish communities whose language, history, and culture Yiddish studies sought to explore. A half-century after the catastrophe, Yiddish scholarship is only beginning to wrestle with its full impact. Today the field of Yiddish studies is vibrant, albeit in a form much different from that envisioned by its pioneers at the start of the previous century.
Judaeo-Spanish Studies
Authors: Schwarzwald Ora (Rodrigue)
Published: December 2012

Judaeo-Spanish (JS) is the language used by Jews originating from Spain. It flourished in the Ottoman Empire immediately after the expulsion from Spain and continued its existence there. Some of the expelled Jews settled in North Africa and used the JS variety known as Hakitía. In the beginning of the twenty first century, JS is in the process of becoming an endangered language for lack of new native speakers. In spite of the decreasing number of speakers, interest increases in the JS language and literature from an academic and folkloristic perspective. This article discusses several of the controversial issues: the names of the language; the history of JS; orthography and spelling; literary genres; JS dialects; JS learning and activities today; and perspectives for further research.
Judaeo-Arabic and Judaeo-Persian
Authors: Khan Geoffrey
Published: December 2012

The term ‘Judaeo-Arabic’ refers to a type of Arabic that was used by Jews and was distinct in some way from other types of Arabic. The Arabic language was used by Jews in Arabia before the rise of Islam. From the point of view of linguistic form, the following characteristic features of written Judaeo-Arabic can be identified: it is written in Hebrew script; it exhibits deviations from Classical Arabic; and it contains Hebrew and Aramaic elements. ‘Judaeo-Persian’ refers to Persian used by Jews. Like Judaeo-Arabic, Judaeo-Persian is not a uniform linguistic entity. The term is used to refer to both a written and a spoken form of language. The geographical area in which it was used extended beyond the boundaries of Iran and included Afghanistan, part of the Caucasus, and much of Central Asia. Judaeo-Persian in its written form is represented in Hebrew script.
Other Diaspora Jewish Literatures Since 1492
Authors: Stavans Ilan
Published: December 2012

Since their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, the dissemination of the Jews in Europe, northern Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas has resulted not only in the production of a literature in modern Jewish languages and dialects such as Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino, Judaeo-Italian, and Judaeo-Arabic, but also in a Jewish literature delivered in virtually every major Western tongue. These literatures in non-Jewish languages obviously fit into their respective national canons: Jewish-Portuguese authors are part of Portuguese letters, Jewish-Polish authors part of Polish letters, and so on. Five centuries after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, and more than 200 years after the Haskalah, an abundance of fiction and poetry by Jews in non-Jewish languages around the globe is produced regularly. And a solid body of literary criticism that attempts to examine its ambivalence at the national and international levels goes hand in hand with it.
Halacha and Law
Authors: Jackson B. S. , Lifshitz B. , Gray Alyssa M. , Sinclair Daniel B.
Published: December 2012

The academic study of ‘halacha’, like its traditional study in the yeshiva, is far broader than the study of ‘Jewish law’. The halacha, in both its scope and concerns, goes well beyond the scope and concerns of that section of it which has counterparts in secular, Western legal systems. For the purposes of this article, ‘Jewish law’ is that latter subsection of the halacha, a subsection moreover which has attracted the particular attentions of scholars trained in secular jurisprudence. This article surveys trends in the field, in relation to both halacha and Jewish Law, in terms of the fourfold division — historical, dogmatic, comparative, and philosophical.
Bible Interpretation
Authors: Fishbane Michael
Published: December 2012

Classical and traditional Jewish culture is fundamentally a text culture — formed, informed, and reformed by Scripture (the Hebrew Bible) and its interpretation. This Scripture has always served as the Centre or source of all legal and intellectual meaning or purpose. Disagreement and contestation arise over the source and status of its ongoing interpretations, which are variously asserted to be divine or human. The nexus between Scripture and its exegetical traditions is therefore crucial, and the claim by different groups to be the proper bearers of Scripture and its interpretation becomes the claim to be the true heirs of ancient Israel and the embodiments of its divine destiny. The normative patterns of Judaism are inseparable from this phenomenon, and it is equally evident in its schismatic and sectarian offshoots.
Jewish Liturgy and Jewish Scholarship: Method and Cosmology
Authors: Hoffman Lawrence A.
Published: December 2012

The state of Jewish liturgy as a modern discipline has received treatment in many quarters. This article describes liturgical study in Judaism. It examines how Jewish liturgy is a discipline on its own. It now turns out that if it is a discipline, it is a very postmodern one, in the sense that it asks how Jews construct the meaning of their lives. New paradigms do not necessarily displace old ones; they build on them. The scientific rigour of the philologists is as important as ever; the reconstruction of piyyutim and rites serves as raw. With the abandoning of the model by which only origins matter, and with the understanding that every communal ritualizing deserves attention for what it says about Jewish identity, liturgy is becoming a ‘post-discipline’ with enormous potential.