Customer Reviews

An Introduction to Judaism (Introduction to Religion)

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This book addresses almost the entire gamut of Jewish history, ideas, thoughts, issues, and concepts and does it in a most engaging manner. By necessity individual concepts are allowed no more than a few paragraphs. This makes for a quick read. The book seems to be written as a college text. However, even the most knowledgable will feel they have learned something new. The author approaches topics that have been the subject of controversy in an uncritical and even handed manner so that all but the most rigid will be able to at least identify with both sides of an issue. Fot the most part the author does not interject his own opinion. Where he does do this is often in a place where he finds opportunity to bring in fresh thoughts.

In his book, "An Introduction to Judaism", Dr. Nicholas de Lange provided a quick insight into the religion and its followers. I observed that he designed this book for people who have little or no time to invest on voluminous texts. The numerous illustrations he used to demystify ancient concepts like Zionism and Diaspora are of great value; although that anybody who is familiar with his earlier works, like the "Atlas of the Jewish World and Jews", would not be too amazed.
This is one book that will enlighten anyone who has interest in Jewish history and demography. It is a well-researched piece. Beautifully summarized! Another compelling chronicle.