"This is my covenant" : circumcision in the world of Temple Judaism -- "Great is circumcision" : Christian condemnation, Jewish veneration -- "Offering incense to heaven" : Jewish circumcision in medieval and early modern Europe -- "The height of foulness" : circumcision in European religious and popular culture -- "Trembling of the hands" : radical changes in a pivotal century -- Good sanitarians : circumcision medicalized -- "This little operation" : Jewish-American physicians and twentieth-century circumcision advocacy -- Unanswerable questions, questionable answers : justifying ritual circumcision -- "Deep feelings of nervousness" : circumnavigating the taboo topic
Summary
This book offers a history of Jewish and Christian beliefs about circumcision from its ancient origins to the controversy about the ethics of performing such surgery on helpless infants
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 335-360) and index
