Review by Choice Review
Technically a revision of R.J.Z. Werblowsky's Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion (CH, Mar'67; rev. ed., 1986), this important work includes changes so extensive that it is in effect an entirely new publication. Since it is more comprehensive than Louis Jacobs's similarly conceived The Jewish Religion: A Companion (CH, May'96) and has been written by a large and distinguished team of scholars from Israel, North America, and the UK, it can safely be designated as authoritative. Jacobs's work, by contrast, carries an appealing personal stamp that gives it a consistently articulated point of view without sacrificing seriousness, and its more selective coverage notwithstanding, includes entries on topics absent from Oxford (e.g., "Games and Sport": is it permitted for a Jew to be a "professional pugilist"?). Both are distinctive in concerning themselves solely with Judaism as a religion. They cover doctrinal issues, religious concepts and controversies, formative thinkers, rituals, symbols, etc. They do not list Jewish Nobel Prize winners or baseball players, and always deal with historical topics (e.g., Zionism) in the context of the Jewish religion. The bibliographies that conclude each Oxford entry are fuller and list more scholarly, less popular sources than Jacobs, who often omits bibliographic references entirely. Oxford is essential for all libraries, although Jacobs remains a useful, necessary source. S. Lehmann; University of Pennsylvania
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
