T HE J EWISH Q UARTERLY R EVIEW, Vol. 105, No. 4 (Fall 2015) 482–506 Nathan Glazer’s American Judaism: Evaluating Post–World War II American Jewish Religion RACHEL GORDAN I N 1957, THE SOCIOLOGIST Nathan Glazer’s book American Judaism was published in the University of Chicago’s History of American Civili- zation series, setting it alongside studies of American Protestantism and American Catholicism. The inclusion of the book reflected a shift in American perceptions of Judaism, and Glazer reacted with surprise to this offer of a seat at the table of American postwar religions. As he wrote in the introduction, he found it incredible that ‘‘the Jewish group, which through most of the history of the United States has formed an insignifi- cant percentage of the American people, has come to be granted the status of a ‘most favored religion.’ ’’ 1 He identified a central paradox of the cul- tural moment in which he was writing—that Judaism had rather sud- denly gained popularity as a religion, even though according to him it fit awkwardly within that category. Unlike other religions, Glazer wrote, ‘‘Judaism is tied up organically with a specific people, indeed a nation.’’ 2 So strong was this association, he noted, that ‘‘the word ‘Jew’ in common usage refers ambiguously both to an adherent of the religion of Judaism and to a member of the Jewish people.’’ 3 Glazer’s study probed the impli- cations of the midcentury shift from the idea of Jews as a ‘‘race’’ (with its strong associations with ‘‘people’’ and ‘‘nation’’) to a ‘‘religion.’’ Glazer’s frank expression of wonder at the rapid change in status of American Judaism was echoed in his unwillingness to repeat the pieties about postwar Jewish success that were so often expressed by apologetic commentators of his era. The 1954 tercentennial celebration of Jewish life in America had occasioned the publication of a number of triumphant 1. Nathan Glazer, American Judaism (Chicago, 1957), 1. 2. Ibid., 3. 3. Ibid. The Jewish Quarterly Review (Fall 2015) Copyright  2015 Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. All rights reserved.