Negotiating Difference: Unity and Diversity in Jewish History from Antiquity to the Present

Dear Colleagues,

From its earliest formations in antiquity to the global communities of the present, Jewish history has been consistently marked by internal diversity. Sectarianism in the Second Temple period; the interpretive plurality of rabbinic academies; the coexistence and exchange among Sephardi, Ashkenazi, Italian, and Mizrahi traditions; and the multiple religious, cultural, and political identities of modern Jewish life all attest to a dynamic tradition shaped by debate, dissent, and ongoing negotiation. Emancipation and the rise of Zionist ideas further unsettled and reconfigured the institutional contours of Jewish belonging, often rendering identity less formally anchored and more contested.

While scholarship has examined many discrete episodes and case studies of Jewish diversity, there remains a need for a genuinely global and comparative account. The absence of such an integrated perspective has sometimes produced stylized narratives of Jewish unity that do not adequately capture the complex mechanisms by which internal difference has been governed, accommodated, or resisted.

This Special Issue of Religions invites contributions that analyze how Jewish communities, across periods and geographies, have managed, negotiated, and conceptualized internal difference. Rather than treating unity as a given, authors are invited to examine the legal, ritual, theological, cultural, social, and political strategies through which dissent and diversity have been addressed—and to consider how these strategies in turn reshaped Jewish communal norms, boundaries, and institutions. Topics may include the role of women and gender in shaping communal life, Christian and Muslim engagement with Jewish traditions, and other forms of interaction that reflect the breadth of Jewish experience. We also welcome work that brings sources and methods into dialogue across subfields (history, philology, anthropology, philosophy, religious studies) or that situates Jewish materials within comparative frameworks.

In this Special Issue, original research articles are welcome. Submissions that introduce new sources, re-read canonical texts, or propose analytical categories for understanding plurality within Judaism are encouraged. By assembling studies from antiquity to the present, we aim to ground a sustained conversation on how difference has functioned as a constitutive feature—rather than a mere deviation—of Jewish life.

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Article types: Original research articles.

Possible themes include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Sectarian movements in antiquity (e.g., Qumran and beyond) and their afterlives.
• Rabbinic debates and the formation/contestation of halakhic authority.
• Kabbalistic controversies and mystical pluralism across regions and periods.
• Negotiation of local customs (minhagim) and diasporic diversity.
• Encounters among Sephardi, Ashkenazi, Italian, and Mizrahi traditions.
• The roles of mysticism, philosophy, and heresy in drawing communal boundaries.
• Women, gender roles, and the negotiation of authority within Jewish communities.
• Christian and Muslim engagement with Jewish traditions and their impact on Jewish self-definition.
• Modern movements (Reform, Orthodox, Conservative, Zionist, secular) in diaspora and in the State of Israel: coexistence, conflict, and institutional mediation.
• Contemporary Jewish identities in a globalized world.
• Comparative/theoretical approaches to internal diversity within Judaism.

Expected Impact

This Special Issue seeks to move beyond fragmented case studies by offering a comparative, transregional account of internal difference in Judaism. It will refine key analytical categories (e.g., halakhic authority, sectarianism, heresy, pluralism), foreground the governance of diversity as a historical process, and model interdisciplinary methods that connect textual, social, and institutional histories. We expect this Issue to serve as a reference point for future research on religious plurality and communal boundary-making in Jewish studies and the study of religion more broadly.

Submission Procedure

Before submitting a full manuscript, please send a proposed title and a 200-300 word abstract to the Guest Editors (francesca.sofia@unibo.it; guido.bartolucci@unibo.it) or to the Assistant Editor of Religions (zena.zeng@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed for scope and fit with the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review in accordance with journal policy.

Prof. Francesca Sofia
Dr. Guido Bartolucci
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Judaism
• Jewish history
• sectarianism
• halakhic authority
• diaspora
• Kabbalah
• Zionism
• religious identity
• pluralism