Jews and the American Public Square: Debating Religion and Republic

A study of how Jews have grappled with the presence of religion, both their own and others, in American public life. It surveys historical Jewish approaches to church-state relations and analyzes Jewish responses to the religion clauses of the First Amendment. It also explores how the contemporary sociological and political characteristics of American Jews bear on their understanding of the public dimensions of American religion. In addition to a descriptive and analytic approach, the volume is also critical and polemical. Its contributors attack and defend prevailing views, raise critical questions about the political and intellectual positions favoured by American Jews, and propose new syntheses. The work aims to capture the mood of the Jewish community: both committed to the separation of church and state and perplexed about its scope and application. It seeks to provide the necessary background for a principled reconsideration of the problem of religion in the public square.