Helpful Scholarly Books

There are a number of scholarly books that have been written that examine many of the above topics. While we cannot include them here, the following is a helpful list, many of which you can find at the HUC libraries.

For a list of introductory books to conversion click here.

• Cohen. Shaye. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties (Hellenistic Culture and Society) University of California Press; 1 edition (January 17, 2001)
• Cohen, Shaye D. "Is Proselyte Baptism Mentioned in the Mishnah? The Interpretation of mPesachim 8:8" Pursuing the Text: Studies in Honor of Ben Zion Wacholder on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies: ... the Study of the Old Testament Supplement). Ed. John C. Reeves. Sheffield Academic Press (February 1, 2009)
• Avi Sagi and Zvi Zohar, Transforming Identity, Continuum Press, London and New York, 2007
• Diamond, James. A. Converts, Heretics, and Lepers: Maimonides and the Outsider, University of Notre Dame Press (November 1, 2007)
• Feldman. Louis H. Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World Princeton University Press (October 14, 1996)
• Angel, Marc. Loving Truth and Peace: The Grand Religious Worldview of Rabbi Benzion Uziel. Jason Aronson (June 28, 1999)
• Barth, Louis. Brit Milah in the Reform Context. Brit Milah Board of Reform Judaism (March 1, 1990)
• Finkelstein, M. Proselytism: Halakhah and Practice (Hebrew). Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press. (1994).
• Hoffman, Lawrence A. Covenant of Blood: Circumcision and Gender in Rabbinic Judaism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (1996).
• Gary G. Porton. The Stranger within Your Gates: Converts and Conversion in Rabbinic Literature (Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism) University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (November 1, 1994)
• Gary G. Porton. Goyim: Gentiles and Israelites in Mishnah-Tosefta (Brown Judaic Studies) Brown Judaic Studies (January 1, 1988)
• Lawrence H. Schiffman. Who Was a Jew?: Rabbinic and Halakhic Perspectives on the Jewish Christian Schism. Ktav Pub Inc (October 1985)