Minority Rites: The Strange History of Circumcision in English Thought

Abstract

Recent debates over the rights and wrong of Jewish circumcision in Britain seem curiously uniformed by any historical understanding. This article considers the significance of the circumcision motif in mid-eighteenth century Britain, and goes on to investigate the way in which this motif has been subsequently deployed by political, religious and medical writers up until the twentieth century. It is argued that the language in which Jewish circumcision has been discussed can be categorised into four distinctive rhetorical modes or discourses: namely those of traditional Tory English nationalism; enlightenment rationalism; British evangelicalism; and British medical professionalism. As only a handful of Jewish Studies scholars, such as Frank Felsenstein, Sander Gilman, Roy Wolper and Sarah Kocher, seem to have previously addressed this topic in any sustained manner, this article derives much of its argument from original primary research.