Bøger i Studies in Judaism serien

The documentary hypothesis of the Rabbinic canon of late antiquity maintains that complete documents form the smallest whole building blocks of the Rabbinic system. These two volumes compare the rhetorical/formal and exegetical traits of two entire, kindred documents. What makes it surprising is the result: they have nothing in common.

This book is a reprint of the first publication of the complete manuscript of Pesiqta Rabbati, Volumes I-III (1997-2002), a major rabbinic work from the Land of Israel from the 5th-6th century.

This is the second volume of a set of anthologies that sets forth the statements of the formative canon of influential Rabbinic Judaism on three large topics: the calendar, the life cycle, and theology. Focusing on the seminal period of normative Judaism, the editor Jacob Neusner presents in three parts the teachings of Rabbinic Judaism in late antiquity, the first six centuries of the Common Era.

With the aid of early Jewish sources, this study opens new avenues of interpretation regarding two enigmatic passages on baptism in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, 10:1-5 and 15:29.

This volume is a multidisciplinary contribution to Sephardic studies, including chapters by some of the best-known authorities in the field, interspersed with those of young scholars who have begun making their mark in current research.

Letters of Love rereads the oeuvre of Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929) in light of his recently published correspondence with Margrit (Gritli) Rosenstock-Huessy (1893-1959). This reading of more than one thousand letters is indispensable for any future research on Rosenzweig. Ephraim Meir has made the first major attempt to study this document humain in order to come to a new picture of Rosenzweig¿s life and thought, especially in Star of Redemption.

Judaism and Emotion breaks with stereotypes that, until recently, branded Judaism as a rigid religion of laws and prohibitions. Instead, authors from different fields of research discuss the subject of Judaism and emotion from various scholarly perspectives; they present an understanding of Judaism that does not exclude spirituality and emotions from Jewish thought.

Viewed in the context of port city revival, this book explores how and why the Jewish community changed during this time in its social cohesion, organizational structure, and ideological affiliations. It investigates the emergence of an organized and vibrant Jewish community in Beirut in the late Ottoman and French period.

Explains the Rosenzweig, Buber, and Levinas Judaically exercise and offers an alternative epistemic orientation to the study of ethics than that of traditional Western or Hellenic-Christian philosophy. This title introduces readers to the playfulness of how Jewish tradition midrashically addresses the Bible.

These five essays deal with the influence of Judaic haggadah or lore, especially in the form of "creative historiography" or "imaginative dramatization," on four enigmatic passages in the Gospels, and one in Acts.

This study of the inclusion of biographical narratives examines sage-stories, anecdotes about the life and deeds of Rabbinic sages, in components of the unfolding canon of Rabbinic Judaism during the formative age. These documents, from the first six centuries C.E., are exclusive of the two Talmuds.

Through exploring the particular importance of the fraternal relationship among the dynasties of the Hellenistic world in Thy Brother''s Blood, Dr. Benjamin Scolnic demonstrates how adherence to or rejection of the "morality of kinship" literally changed the world. This in-depth book reviews fraternal relationships in the Bible and Greek and Roman mythology to create models for the falls of the Attalids of Pergamon and the Antigonids of Macedonia. The ancient writers from Rome to Jerusalem valued fraternal bonds and used fratricide as the symbol for internal dissension within nations. Using a focalized approach, Dr. Scolnic cautions that historians sometimes were so consumed with the metaphor of fraternity that they ignored the historical realities. He demonstrates this by providing a historical and moral context for the fall of one Judean dynasty, the Zadokite high priests, and for the rise and fall of the Hasmonaean dynasty, known to the world as the Maccabees.

The Rabbis of classical Judaism, in the first six centuries of the Common Era, commented on the teachings of ancient Israel''s prophets and shaped, as much as they were shaped by, prophecy. They commented on much of the Scriptural heritage and they made it their own. This collection of the Rabbinic comments on biblical books makes easily accessible the Rabbinic reading of the prophetic heritage and opens the way to the study of how normative Judaism responded to the challenge of the prophetic writings.

The Rabbis of classical Judaism, in the first six centuries of the Common Era, commented on the teachings of ancient Israel''s prophets and shaped, as much as they were shaped by, prophecy. They commented on much of the Scriptural heritage and they made it their own. This collection of the Rabbinic comments on biblical books makes easily accessible the Rabbinic reading of the prophetic heritage and opens the way to the study of how normative Judaism responded to the challenge of the prophetic writings.

In the first six centuries of the Common Era, the Rabbis of formative Judaism, from the Mishnah through the Bavli, consulted the ancient Israelite prophets for guidance on issues of theology, law, history, and literature. In this anthology, Jacob Neusner collects and arranges in documentary sequence the Rabbinic comments on verses in the biblical prophets of Michael and Joel.

In the first six centuries of the Common Era, the Rabbis of formative Judaism, from the Mishnah through the Bavli, consulted the ancient Israelite prophets for guidance on issues of theology, law, history, and literature. In this anthology, Jacob Neusner collects and arranges in documentary sequence the Rabbinic comments on verses in the biblical prophet Amos.

The Rabbinic Midrash, founded on a theological system and structure, is comprised by active category formations that turn facts into knowledge and knowledge into propositions of a theological character. This work defines the principal parts of the theological system that animated the Rabbinic sages' encounters with Scripture.

In the "Mishnah", the "Tosefta", and the commentaries that joined them, the law of Judaism is outlined topic by topic. The exposition of these topics, however, is shaped in part by a generic analytical program. This book identifies the occurrences of the four intellectual templates, and shows where and how the same problems recur time and again.

Judaism''s two native categories, narrative theology and law (also known as parable and praxis or Aggadah and Halakhah) form two distinct modes of discourse. The one expounds norms of attitude and belief, the other, norms of action and behavior. Each possesses its own modes of thought, topical program, and medium for expression. Joined together, they create a remarkably coherent statement. Any understanding of Rabbinic Judaism depends on a theory of how these two modes of thought and expression relate to form a single cogent system. In Praxis and Parable, author Jacob Neusner explores how that single topic "the morality and law of the animal kingdom" in the Rabbinic canon of the formative age, like all other ubiquitous topics encompassed in that canon, produces two distinct vocabularies of analysis. These distinct realms of thought and speech on the same subject yield two separate classifications of the order of nature and society. How these two mediums of expressions intersect and diverge in a single case permits the general characterization of the two Judaic modes of discourse. The general characterization of the interplay of Halakhah and Aggadah defines the interior dynamics of Rabbinic Judaism and forms the principal task of systemic analysis of that Judaism. In the Rabbinic manner, this book works from the case to the rule.

Spirituality and Law is an in-depth evaluation of martyrdom impulses in Christianity and Judaism. Author Abraham Gross analyzes the spiritual yearning of martyrdom in each religion over a period of 1,500 years, from the 2nd to the 16th century. Special attention is given to the Roman period, 9th century Cordova, and 13th-15th century Franciscans.

This work investigates Rabbi David ibn Abi Zimra (Radbaz), a leading 16th century rabbinic authority who assumed the role of rendering ''just'' decisions, which were occasionally at the expense of conventional law. The author explores Radbaz''s decision-making in terms of his insight into the broader purposes of codified law, sensitivity, and overall rationality.

The three volumes of Collected Essays on Philosophy and on Judaism by Marvin Fox (former President of the Association of Jewish Studies) present Fox's thoughts on the relationship between Judaism and Philosophy. Coverage in volume one is Greek Philosophy and Maimonides.