Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America

by Leonard B. Glick

Overview

Glick offers a history of Jewish and Christian beliefs about circumcision from its ancient origins to the current controversy. Hw shows that Jewish American physicians are especially vocal and influential champions of the practice which, he notes, serves to erase the visible difference between Jewish and gentile males. Informed medical opinion is now unanimous that circumcision confers no benefit and the practice has declined. In Jewish circles it is virtually taboo to question circumcision, but Glick does not flinch from asking whether this procedure should continue to be the defining feature of modern Jewish identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195176742
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/30/2005
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	9.54(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.03(d)

About the Author

Leonard B. Glick is a cultural anthropologist with a medical degree and a doctorate in anthropology. He is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Hampshire College and is the author of Abraham's Heirs: Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe (1999).

Editorial Reviews

"Marked in Your Flesh is an ambitious study of the ancient rite of circumcision, which has been central to the demarcation of Jewish identity from biblical times to the present. There have been many studies of circumcision, but Leonard Glicks is distinguished both by its impressive historical range and its sophisticated commingling of anthropological and textual methodologies. Through painstaking analysis the author has unmasked many of the socio-cultural and religious underpinnings of circumcision. Marked in Your Flesh should appeal to anyone interested in this practice."—Elliot R. Wolfson, Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University

"Marked in Your Flesh shines as the rarest of beasts-a book that is learned yet accessible, deeply serious yet profoundly entertaining. Glick writes with one eye carefully checking footnotes while the other eye compassionately keeps watch over the precious newborn babies that are his ultimate subject. This engagingly written book contains lessons applicable to all of us concerned with protecting human rights and human well-being against encroachment by cultural and social forces."—J. Steven Svoboda, Founder and Executive Director, Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

From the Publisher