The Progress and Characteristics of Jewish Studies in Contemporary European and American Worlds

Abstract

The Nazi Holocaust destroyed Europe s position as a Jewish research center and shifted it to the United States and Israel. After the Second World War, the Jewish Studies in the United States witnessed the rapid development of prosperity, while the European Jewish Studies was also undergoing some recovery. Jewish Studies in Contemporary European and American worlds has made a series of important research results, and established a number of academic research institutions, showing
three major characteristics: The absorption and adoption of social science methods; the trend of internationalization is constantly strengthening; and the turning of postmodernism appears. Unlike the nationalist orientation of the Jewish Studies in
Israel, Jewish Studies in the European and American world s insisted on the pluralist spirit of the Diaspora and emphasized the vitality of the Jewish community in the Diaspora.