Religion or Ethnicity?: Jewish Identities in Evolution, ed. Zvi Gitelman (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2009).

I began my search knowing that I wanted to explore Judaism, but I was unsure what aspect of Judaism I wanted to explore. The first term I entered for my search was simply “Judaism,” so that I could get an idea of a topic I might want to explore. With this initial search I saw books available on secularism in Judaism, and decided that was the topic I wanted to find a book on. The next term I entered in was “Secularism in Judaism,” which yielded no results, so I cut down the search term to “Secular Judaism.” Using this term I found a book that discusses the notion of Judaism as a religion versus an ethnicity, as well as secularism in Judaism, Religion or Ethnicity?: Jewish Identities in Evolution.

After briefly flipping through the book and skimming some pages, I found that the Religion or Ethnicity?  contains an interesting discourse on Judaism in the pre-modern era, as well as the origins of secular Judaism and how to define Jewish identity. I found the discourse on secular Judaism and Jewish identity particularly interesting, as I consider myself Jewish even though I do not practices and rarely attend services of an kind. The book’s discussion of the challenges of defining Jewish identity, such as Jewish identity being defined differently in various parts of the world and groups of individuals with different practices and beliefs all identifying themselves as Jewish, seemed to fit with some of our previous readings on Conservative, Orthodox, Ultra-Orthodox, and Reform Judaism.

Overall, the book offered what I expected to find, although I was pleased to discover that the book had a larger focus on secular Judaism than I initially anticipated based on the title. Around where I found Religion or Ethnicity? I also saw books on Zionism, modern Judaism, and the displacement of Jews throughout history. There were also more books addressing Jewish identity. If I were to write my paper on secularism in Judaism, I would consider using Religion or Ethnicity?: Jewish Identities in Evolution as a resource.

Originally I was interested in the different interpretations of the relationship between Atman and Brahman in Hinduism. I started searching with the term “Atman and Brahman.” This turned out to be too specific and the search only turned up one physical book, the blurb of which described it more as an introduction to Hinduism. I used the broader term “moksha,” but that was too broad and turned up a number of books on topics other than the relationship between Atman and Brahman. The last term I used was “Hinduism Dualism,” and while I did not find a book specifically about Atman and Brahman, I did find Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, which piqued my interest.

Although the book had a rather unassuming plain red cover, a brief reading of its introduction and a flip through some of its pages revealed an argument  against attempts to present Hinduism as a single unifying set of philosophies and beliefs. The book seemed to portray Hinduism as a religion in a more nuanced light, discussing diversity in philosophies and practices within Hinduism, as well as the notion of Hinduism as an inclusive culture. This topic on inclusiveness within Hinduism seemed particularly interesting, as from what I read, it appeared to discuss how followers of certain philosophies of Hinduism acknowledged and incorporated differing beliefs and philosophies into their own practice. Overall, even though it did not focus on the topic I was originally searching for, the book appeared to cover interesting subject matter that relates to the way we might view religions as we study them.

Near where I found the book, there were a number of other books focusing on various topics related to Hinduism. I found a number of volumes related to epics we discussed in class, such as the Ramayana. There was also a book that seemed to be an introduction to Hinduism located right next to the book I found.

Nicholson, Andrew J., Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. Print.