- The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies
- List of Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface
- The Nature of Jewish Studies
- Biblical Studies and Jewish Studies
- Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period
- The Literature of the Second Temple Period
- Historiography on the Jews in the ‘Talmudic Period’ (70–640 ce)
- Classical Rabbinic Literature
- The Narratives of Medieval Jewish History
- Medieval Jewry In Christendom
- Medieval Jewry in the World of Islam
- Rabbinic Literature in the Middle Ages 1000–1492
- The Study of Hebrew Literature of the Middle Ages: Major Trends and Goals
- Medieval Karaism
- Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries since 1492
- European Jewry in the Early Modern Period: 1492–1750
- Western and Central European Jewry in the Modern Period: 1750–1933
- Eastern European Jewry in the Modern Period: 1750–1939
- The Holocaust
- Settlement and State in Eretz Israel
- American Jewish History
- The Hebrew Language
- Modern Hebrew Literature
- Yiddish Studies
- Judaeo-Spanish Studies
- Judaeo-Arabic and Judaeo-Persian
- Other Diaspora Jewish Literatures Since 1492
- Halacha and Law
- Bible Interpretation
- Mysticism
- Jewish Liturgy and Jewish Scholarship: Method and Cosmology
- Jewish Philosophy and Theology
- Jewish Women's Studies
- Demography
- Art, Architecture, and Archaeology
- Music
- Jewish Theatre
- Jewish and Israeli Film Studies
- Anti-Semitism Research
- Jewish Folklore and Ethnography
- Modern Jewish Society and Sociology
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
Karaism is best defined as a Jewish religious movement of a scripturalist and messianic nature, which crystallized in the second half of the ninth century in the areas of Persia-Iraq and Palestine. This article highlights new developments and breakthroughs in research, with specific emphasis on the state of manuscript sources, and the fields of Karaite history and hermeneutics. It also attempts to redefine the major impetus behind the Karaite movement. It concludes by reviewing the issues that have been raised and outlines the major paradigmatic shift in the current understanding of Karaism. Two separate modes of explanation have traditionally been pursued in the light of comparative religious phenomena. One identifies the major motivation underlying Karaism as intrinsic to Judaism, drawn from earlier scripturalist models, and the other identifies it as external to Judaism, borrowed or grafted onto it from heterodox Islamic models.
Keywords: Karaism, Karaite history, Karaite hermeneutics, Jewish religious movement, Judaism
Meira Polliack is Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Tel Aviv University.
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- The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies
- List of Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface
- The Nature of Jewish Studies
- Biblical Studies and Jewish Studies
- Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period
- The Literature of the Second Temple Period
- Historiography on the Jews in the ‘Talmudic Period’ (70–640 ce)
- Classical Rabbinic Literature
- The Narratives of Medieval Jewish History
- Medieval Jewry In Christendom
- Medieval Jewry in the World of Islam
- Rabbinic Literature in the Middle Ages 1000–1492
- The Study of Hebrew Literature of the Middle Ages: Major Trends and Goals
- Medieval Karaism
- Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries since 1492
- European Jewry in the Early Modern Period: 1492–1750
- Western and Central European Jewry in the Modern Period: 1750–1933
- Eastern European Jewry in the Modern Period: 1750–1939
- The Holocaust
- Settlement and State in Eretz Israel
- American Jewish History
- The Hebrew Language
- Modern Hebrew Literature
- Yiddish Studies
- Judaeo-Spanish Studies
- Judaeo-Arabic and Judaeo-Persian
- Other Diaspora Jewish Literatures Since 1492
- Halacha and Law
- Bible Interpretation
- Mysticism
- Jewish Liturgy and Jewish Scholarship: Method and Cosmology
- Jewish Philosophy and Theology
- Jewish Women's Studies
- Demography
- Art, Architecture, and Archaeology
- Music
- Jewish Theatre
- Jewish and Israeli Film Studies
- Anti-Semitism Research
- Jewish Folklore and Ethnography
- Modern Jewish Society and Sociology
- Index
