Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures in Volume II
- Contributors to Volume II
- Editors’ Preface to the Series
- 1 Human Sexuality: The Evolutionary Legacy of Mating, Parenting, and Family Formation
- 2 Sexuality in Ancient Egypt: Pleasures, Desires, Norms, and Representations
- 3 Sexuality in the Systems of Thought and Belief of the Ancient Near East
- 4 Sexuality in Traditional South Asian Systems of Thought and Belief
- 5 Discourses of Desire in Ancient Greece and Rome
- 6 Writing a History of Sexuality for Pre-Modern China
- 7 Sexuality in Traditional Systems of Thought and Belief in Pre-modern Japan
- 8 African Traditions of Sexualities
- 9 Sexuality in the Traditional Systems of Thought and Belief of the Americas
- 10 Oceanic Sexualities: Persistence, Change, Resistance
- 11 Sexuality in Buddhist Traditions
- 12 Sexuality in Jewish Traditions
- 13 Sexuality in Christian Traditions
- 14 Sexuality in Islamic Traditions
- 15 Scientific Sex in the Modern World
- 16 Sexuality in Marxism and Socialism
- 17 Feminism and Modern Sexuality
- 18 Post-Colonialism and Sexuality
- Index
- Contents to Volumes I, III, and IV
- References
12 - Sexuality in Jewish Traditions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 April 2024
Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures in Volume II
- Contributors to Volume II
- Editors’ Preface to the Series
- 1 Human Sexuality: The Evolutionary Legacy of Mating, Parenting, and Family Formation
- 2 Sexuality in Ancient Egypt: Pleasures, Desires, Norms, and Representations
- 3 Sexuality in the Systems of Thought and Belief of the Ancient Near East
- 4 Sexuality in Traditional South Asian Systems of Thought and Belief
- 5 Discourses of Desire in Ancient Greece and Rome
- 6 Writing a History of Sexuality for Pre-Modern China
- 7 Sexuality in Traditional Systems of Thought and Belief in Pre-modern Japan
- 8 African Traditions of Sexualities
- 9 Sexuality in the Traditional Systems of Thought and Belief of the Americas
- 10 Oceanic Sexualities: Persistence, Change, Resistance
- 11 Sexuality in Buddhist Traditions
- 12 Sexuality in Jewish Traditions
- 13 Sexuality in Christian Traditions
- 14 Sexuality in Islamic Traditions
- 15 Scientific Sex in the Modern World
- 16 Sexuality in Marxism and Socialism
- 17 Feminism and Modern Sexuality
- 18 Post-Colonialism and Sexuality
- Index
- Contents to Volumes I, III, and IV
- References
Summary
This chapter discusses the teachings of the rabbinic sages in Late Antiquity who worked in fundamental ways with the biblical traditions transmitted to and by them. The Hebrew Bible, whose precise shape was still under discussion in the first century CE, provided the rabbinic sages with ancient normative and legal traditions that they reinterpreted and expanded. The large archive of rabbinic traditions provides us with a tremendous wealth of representations of sexual practices, desires, and discourses, often in tension with each other, that reverberate throughout Jewish history. It further provides a framework and language for contemporary Jewish discourses of sexuality, including newly emerging identities, individual and communal, specifically for Jewish LGBTQ+ people. Three topics out of many possible have been selected for this chapter: obligations of marriage, reproduction, and same-sex and queer sexualities. They represent three topics of perennial debate in Jewish traditions around the world. For each, rabbinic texts and especially the Talmud have played a pre-eminent role in shaping the debates over the centuries.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities , pp. 250 - 270Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024
References
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