Description
Rewriting the Self
Psychotherapy and Midrash
Author: Rotenberg Mordechai
Language: EnglishSubject for Rewriting the Self:
Keywords
Sholem Aleichem; Mordecha Rotenberg; Key Board; self-renewal psychotherapy; Holy Man; Judaism; Midat Hadin; Jewish Midrash; Reversed Causality Model; Resh Lakish; Vice Versa; Rabban Gamliel; Mizug Galuyot; Kiryat Yedidim; Baal Teshuva; Father Son Relationship; Rabbi Yochanan; Rabbi Akiva; Midrash Rabba; Hermeneutic Code; Switch Board; European Enlightened; Communal Life Style; Linear Conversion; Rebellious Son; Intergenerational Tension; Finite Past; Baba Mezia; Retrospective Review
58.62 €
Subject to availability at the publisher.
Add to cart the print on demand of Rotenberg MordechaiPublication date: 03-2004
Support: Print on demand
Publication date: 06-2018
· 15.2x22.9 cm · Hardback
Description
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While the term midrash--from the Hebrew darash, searched or interpreted--can refer to both legal and extralegal scriptural exegesis, it most commonly refers to symbolic legends, stories, and parables used to make moral or ethical concepts accessible to the layman. As such, midrash encompasses an open-ended method of exposition that often allows for the coexistence of seemingly contradictory interpretations of holy writ in a kind of dialogue with each other. In Rewriting the Self, Mordechai Rotenberg illustrates how "midrashic" dialogue between a person's past and present may assist in the reorganization of ostensibly contrasting conditions or positions, so that by reinterpreting a failing past according to future aspirations, cognitive discord may be reduced and one may begin to rehabilitate and enhance one's life.
Rotenberg argues that the foundations of what he calls a "dialogic" psychology of progress, as well as a pluralistic, free choice approach to psychotherapy, may be identified in Judaism's midrashic "metacode." From a practical, therapeutic perspective, a teacher or therapist would no longer be an elite interpreter of a student or client's past, authorized to give the only authentic analysis of that person's problems. Rather, he would be able to offer a variety of options, both rational and emotional. In Rewriting the Self, Rotenberg demonstrates his theory with several case studies of "rewriting" oneself from both the Midrash and Talmud. He contrasts this method with other psychotherapies. This volume is the third in a trilogy (the previous two, Damnation and Deviance and Hasidic Psychology, are also published by Transaction) that seeks to present a "dialogistic" psychology as an alternative framework to the perspective that predominates in Western social sciences. It is an original work that will be welcomed by psychotherapists, social scientists, and students of theology.