Reviews for Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture

The average rating for Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-08-20 00:00:00 Donny Parker No doubt I am not in a great position to judge this book, since its topic is well outside my area of expertise, but I nonetheless found it fascinating in parts and dull in others. The fascinating elements of the book were twofold. The first lies in the book's central thesis, which looks at how the Jewish/Christian strand of thought which borrow from the Greek, platonic tradition led to a privilege of mind over body, whereas the Rabbinical tradition of late antiquity, as both a philosophical and political move, tended to maintain the importance of the body and sexuality. In part, Boyarin admits, there were for tribal, even xenophobic reasons, for this emphasis on carnality, but they nonetheless formed an important point of difference and an implicit critique of the Christian view that became dominant. In subsequent chapters, therefore, he traces how this focus on the body played out in questions of theology, sexuality, gender, and even the study of the Talmud (since the last was explicitly forbidden to women). The second aspect of this book that I liked was Boyarin's nuanced historical approach. He is very precise and balanced in how he presents his topic, pointing out at various points the temptation to simplify into black and white discourses of "good" and "bad," especially in line with modern political values about the body and feminism. For me, the book started out strongly, but the argument in the second half seemed to get wrapped up in technicalities that are only importance or relevant to scholars of Jewish history. Then again, perhaps that is to be expected - after all, as I said at the beginning, I am no expert in this area.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-04-22 00:00:00 Monique Franklin So far so good. He doesn't understand key Christian Dogmas at times but it's okay, I wouldnt expect him to entirely, and still welcome many of his great critiques. (Fr Behr, Patricia Jung, Philip LeMasters, Dr Guroian, Thatcher, Richard Davidson, Frederickson and co offer correctives to his writing-off of the Christian Tradition, St Paul and the Incarnation.) However, there is much good in the Rabbinic Tradition, that we Christians could and should benefit from, as Boyarin shows. This could and should be juxtaposed with a more well-rounded look at the place of Marriage and sexuality in Christian Tradition up to and including our time. This work certainly helps in rooting ideas we take for granted about sexuality, in historical context. By doing so, this could help Christians correct those in our tradition who erroneously put celibacy over and against Marriage and Sex, in ultimate ways. To continue to do this would be a failure to the Scriptures, the Church and the Kingdom of God. A key insight from reading Boyarin, is that we need to move beyond the crudely dualist and allegorical reading of scripture which has indeed had an unfortunate impact on our exegesis. (This doesnt fit with the nature of the Liturgical life as Schmemann shows, with Scripture as Eugene Peterson expresses, Perichoresis as Leithart illuminated, or with the Transfiguring thrust of Orthodox Christian Trinitarian Theology, as Fr Behr, Louth or Staniloae show.) ...Intelligent and enjoyable reading on an important yet grossly underdeveloped aspect of Judeo-Christian life. Patricia Jung has recently written a book which places some of these important issues into the context of Eschatology. This is both fantastic and necessary. Christianity needs a typological and Liturgical approach to sexuality, to avoid the twisted abstractness of 'allegory'. Books like this one can help us alongside those others mentioned, thank God.