Judaism

A monotheistic world religion with origins in the prophetic activities of the Jews in relation to the God Yahweh. It is important to distinguish early biblical Judaism, before the fall of the Temple in 70CE, and later Judaism which was focused on the synagogue. Judaism was organized around religious teachers (the rabbis) and religious knowledge was contained in the Torah or teaching (especially the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). Judaism, which was based on the idea of a sacred covenant between Yahweh and his people, produced profound messianic movements throughout history.

In the Middle Ages, there were a number of important mystical movements, such as the Kabbalah, which gave an esoteric reading to traditional Jewish theology. In the nineteenth century, there were attempts to change and reform many traditional practices, giving rise to the creation of two separate religious movements, Reform and Conservative Judaism. The destruction of European Jewish communities in the Holocaust and the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948 have transformed Judaism in the twentieth century.

Sociologists have been particularly interested in the nature of Jewish prophecy (see, for example,, Ancient Judaism, 1917-19), the relationship between Judaism and capitalism (see, The Jews and Modern Capitalism, 1911), and more recently the implications of the Holocaust for established social theories (see, Modernity and the Holocaust, 1990). See also Christianity.