There has been virtually little discussion about how Judaism, whether as a religious doctrine or cultural identity, has influenced the field of composition studies. This chasm in composition scholarship is surprising, given that composition studies has been a discipline that has vigorously claimed to embrace and advocate a policy of diversity. This book explores the myriad configurations of Judaic influences in composition studies that have yet to be articulated, but that are made manifest in the theory and pedagogy of radical/critical teaching, service-learning, and narratives of literacy, identity, and politics. Further, the text explores how Judaic rhetorical texts can be used to reconstruct traditional rhetoric through its use of language, style, and symbolism.
Contents: Introduction, Deborah Holdstein and Andrea Greenbaum. THEORIZING JUDAIC RHETORIC. The Religious Ideology of Composition Studies, Deborah Holdstein. "Torah Is Not Learned But in a Group": Collaborative Learning and Talmud Study, Lauren Fitzgerald. JEWISH CULTURAL IDENTITY AND WRITING. People of the Book: Composition, Judaism, and Social Conscience, Russel Durst. The Poetics of Remembering, Eli Goldblatt. The Rhetorical Traditions of Reform Judaism in America: Constructing a Cultural Identity, Shawn Hellman. Composing Identity and Community in Cyberspace: A "Rhetorical Ethnography" of Writing on Jewish Discussion Groups in the United States and Germany, Michel Anne Moskow and Steven B. Katz. CONTEXTS FOR JUDAIC RHETORIC IN COMPOSITION. The Horizon of Martin Buber in Composition Studies, Rich Miller. Ethics, Redemption, and Writing after Auschwitz: The Case of Emanual Levinas, Michael Bernard-Donals and John Drake. Talmudic Rhetoric: Explorations for Writing, Reading, and Teaching, Andrea Greenbaum. Author Index. Subject Index. |
