New Heavens and a New Earth

The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought
Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-0-19-975479-3
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 416 Seiten, Format (B × H): 236 mm x 160 mm, Gewicht: 726 g

Jeremy Brown offers the first major study of the Jewish reception of the Copernican revolution, examining four hundred years of Jewish writings on the Copernican model. Brown shows the ways in which Jews ignored, rejected, or accepted the Copernican model, and the theological and societal underpinnings of their choices.

Throughout New Heavens and a New Earth are deft historical studies of such colorful figures as Joseph Delmedigo, the first Jewish Copernican and a student of Galileo's; Tuviah Cohen, who called Copernicus the "Son of Satan; " Zelig Slonimski, author of a famed collection of essays on Halley's Comet and other astronomical phenomena; and the modern neo-goecentrists who use Einstein's Theory of Relativity to argue that the Earth does not actually revolve around the sun. Brown also provides insightful comparisons of concurrent Jewish and Christian writings on Copernicus, demonstrating that the Jewish reception of Copernicus was largely dependent on local factors and response.

The book concludes by noting the important lessons that may be learned from the history of the Jewish reception of Copernican thought and showing how religions make room for new scientific descriptions of reality while upholding most cherished beliefs.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brown, Jeremy

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Wissenschaft
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Religion & Wissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien: Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction

- Chapter 1 - Nicolas Copernicus and His Revolution

- Chapter 2 - The Talmudic View of the Universe

- Chapter 3 - David Gans and the First Mention of Copernicus in Hebrew Literature

- Chapter 4 - The First Jewish Copernican: Rabbi Joseph Solomon Delmedigo

- Chapter 5 - ''Copernicus Is the Son of Satan.'' The First Jewish Rejections of Copernicus

- Chapter 6 - David Nieto and Copernicanism in London

- Chapter 7 - The Jewish Encyclopedias

- Chapter 8 - The Eighteenth Century. Jews and Copernicus in the Newtonian Era

- Chapter 9 - ''I Have Written a Book For the Young People.'' David Friesenhausen's Mosdot Tevel

- Chapter 10 - The Nineteenth Century: Copernicus Without Hesitation

- Chapter 11 - ''Let Copernicus and a Thousand Like Him Be Removed From the World.'' Reuven Landau's Rejection

- Chapter 12 - The Modern Period

- Chapter 13 - Relativity and Contemporary Jewish Geocentrists

- Chapter 14 - Conclusions

- Appendix

- Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Research Director for the Development of Emergency Medicine, George Washington University