The Future of Judaism in America

This book explores the state of the American Jewish world in the early 21st century, after decades of accelerating change that has transformed it and all other religious groups in the United States. It reveals a community in an unparalleled state of flux grappling with a society in which religious identity is more and more considered an individual choice, rather than an inheritance, and where fewer adults feel impelled to identify with any religious tradition at all.

In chapters written by leading experts, the book examines the community's evolving demographics, the direction of the principal denominational movements, contemporary religious trends, interactions with other American religious communities and engagements in the country's secular politics. This text uniquely covers all these aspects of Judaism in America making it appealing to students and researchers in such fields as the sociology of religion, Judaism, and American history.

Acknowledgements. - Series Editors Introduction: The Future of Religion in America (Mark Silk and Andrew H. Walsh). - Chapter 1. Introduction: The Future of Judaism in America: Judaism Is Now Choice (Jerome A. Chanes). - Chapter 2. The Future of American Jewish Denominations (Lawrence Grossman). - Chapter 3. Perspectives from Demography and Geography (Ira M. Sheskin). - Chapter 4. Renewal (Shaul Magid and Jerome A. Chanes). - Chapter 5. Women s Active Partnership in Revitalizing American Judaism (Sylvia Barack Fishman). - Chapter 6. Jewish Political Involvement (Marc D. Stern). - Chapter 7. American Jews, Judaism and Other Faith Communities (Eugene Korn). - Chapter 8. Conclusion (Jerome A. Chanes and Mark Silk). - Index.