Theological Dictionary of Rabbinic Judaism: Principal theological categories

Theological Dictionary of Rabbinic Judaism: Principal theological categories
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780761830290

Rabbinic theological language has made possible a vast range of discourse, on many subjects over long spans of recorded time and in diverse cultural settings. This theological dictionary defines the principal theological usages of Rabbinic Judaism as set forth in the Rabbinic canon of late antiquity, Mishnah, Talmuds, and Midrash-compilations. It systematically lays 1] the theological categories that are native to those writings; 2] cogent statements that can be made with them; 3] coherent propositions that those statements set forth and (within their own terms and framework) logically demonstrate as true and self-evident, both. Volume One of this dictionary covers vocabulary that permits the classification of religious knowledge and experience, and the organization and categorization of those data into intelligible and cogent sense-units. Volume Two shows how these classifications combine and recombine in sentences. We may deem these rules of theological discourse concerning religious experience to be the counterpart of syntax which words combine (or do not combine) with which other words, in what inflection or signaled relationship, and why. Volume Three shows how the theology accomplishes its goals of analysis, explanation, and anticipation in order to make sense of and impose meaning upon a subject. That marks the point at which constructive theology commences and systematic theology will find its language.

Theological Dictionary of Rabbinic Judaism: Making connections and building constructions

Theological Dictionary of Rabbinic Judaism: Making connections and building constructions
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780761830283

Rabbinic theological language has made possible a vast range of discourse, on many subjects over long spans of recorded time and in diverse cultural settings. This theological dictionary defines the principal theological usages of Rabbinic Judaism as set forth in the Rabbinic canon of late antiquity, Mishnah, Talmuds, and Midrash-compilations. It systematically lays [1] the theological categories that are native to those writings; [2] cogent statements that can be made with them; [3] coherent propositions that those statements set forth and (within their own terms and framework) logically demonstrate as true and self-evident, both. Volume One of this dictionary covers vocabulary that permits the classification of religious knowledge and experience, and the organization and categorization of those data into intelligible and cogent sense-units. Volume Two shows how these classifications combine and recombine in sentences. We may deem these rules of theological discourse concerning religious experience to be the counterpart of syntax which words combine (or do not combine) with which other words, in what inflection or signaled relationship, and why. Volume Three shows how the theology accomplishes its goals of analysis, explanation, and anticipation in order to make sense of and impose meaning upon a subject. That marks the point at which constructive theology commences and systematic theology will find its language.

The Talmud

The Talmud
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780761831150

The Talmud is important because it sets forth the law and theology of Judaism in its authoritative statement, continuing for centuries to attract commentators and forming the curriculum for the culture of Judaism. In these pages, important and representative compositions afford an encounter with this classic, ancient document in its own terms and framework, but in English translation. Examples include the following: Law: "An Eye for an Eye" Bavli Baba Qamma 8:1/83b-84b; "In the case of anything of which I am liable to take care, I am deemed to render possible whatever damage it may do" Bavli Baba Qamma 1:2/9b-11a; "He who steals food and feeds what he stole to his children, or left it to them Theology: "All Israel has a portion in the world to come" Bavli Sanhedrin 11:1-2/90a-92a; "When will the Messiah come?" Bavli Sanhedrin 11:1-2/96b-99a; "By that same measure by which a man metes out to others, with that measure do they mete out to him" Bavli Sotah 1:7-9/9b-14a Narratives: "The law concerning the usurping occupant: " Adapting to historical events, the destruction of the second Temple in particular Bavli Gittin 5:6/55B-57b; "My master in wisdom, and my disciple in accepting my rulings: " Resolving Conflict in the Law Bavli Rosh Hashanah 2:8-9/25A-25B

How Not to Study Judaism: Parables, rabbinic narratives, rabbis' biographies, rabbis' disputes

How Not to Study Judaism: Parables, rabbinic narratives, rabbis' biographies, rabbis' disputes
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2004
Genre: Jewish learning and scholarship
ISBN: 9780761827825

In How Not to Study Judaism : Examples and Counter-Examples, Jacob Neusner presents a collection of essays and book reviews that identify the wrong way of conducting the academic study of Judaism. Pointing readers toward the right way to pursue the academic study of Judaism, Nuesner's focus is on the study of the literature of Judaism and the culture of the Jewish community.

The Vitality of Rabbinic Imagination

The Vitality of Rabbinic Imagination
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780761831181

Assessed against comparable documents of Scripture and the Qumran library, the Mishnah shows itself as a triumph of imagination. It exhibits remarkable capacity to think in new and astonishing ways about familiar things. This study compares the Mishnah to four biblical codes and two codes found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The comparison provides perspective upon the uniqueness of the Mishnah in its Israelite context of Scripture and tradition. Linked to Scripture and in dialogue with Scripture, the Mishnah struck out in new paths altogether from those set forth by Scripture's codes and those that imitated them. The capacity to think in fresh ways about the Scripture's own imperatives and their implications attests to the validity of Rabbinic imagination that reaches concrete expression in the Mishnah, a triumph of reconstruction and creative recapitulation.

Is Scripture the Origin of the Halakhah?

Is Scripture the Origin of the Halakhah?
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780761831174

The Halakhah constitutes a coherent construction comprised by category-formations defined by topics purposively amplified. These category-formations everywhere pursue a cogent analytical program, addressing diverse subjects, treated systematically, a single set of questions of definition and analysis. Is Scripture the origin of the Halakhic system, which defines the norms of Judaism? At stake is not the starting point of discrete bits of legal data. At issue is the origin of the comprehensive structure comprised by the Halakhic category-formations, by these topics and no others. Scripture forms the natural starting point for any inquiry into the origins of Judaism. So it is quite natural to treat Scripture as the base-line and the Halakhic category-formations as the variable when seeking the origin of the system. But what happens when, as in this project, we treat the system as the base-line and Scripture as the variable? Then we see that the Halakhic system viewed as a coherent statement does not originate in Scripture. Important parts of that statement do, important parts do not. But the system viewed whole does not.

Texts Without Boundaries: Sifré to Deuteronomy and Mekhilta attributed to Rabbi Ishmael

Texts Without Boundaries: Sifré to Deuteronomy and Mekhilta attributed to Rabbi Ishmael
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: Upa
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2002
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

The Rabbinic compilations in the canon of Rabbinic Judaism, from the Mishnah through the Bavli, ca. 200-600 C.E., are comprised by two classifications of writing, [1] documentary and [2] non-documentary. Documentary writing conforms to a protocol paramount in, and particular to, a given text, non-documentary writing ignores the distinctive preferences of the compilation in which it appears. The former is defined for each Rabbinic document, respectively, by a unique combination of choices as to form or rhetoric, topic or problem or proposition, and logic of coherent discourse and analysis (terms explained presently). The latter type of writing simply ignores the indicative documentary traits. It thereby crosses the boundaries that separate one text from another, indeed a given canonical compilation from all others. 'Texts without boundaries' refers to writing that ignores the protocols of the document(s) in which it is preserved.

Theological Dictionary of Rabbinic Judaism

Theological Dictionary of Rabbinic Judaism
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780761830276

Rabbinic theological language has made possible a vast range of discourse, on many subjects over long spans of recorded time and in diverse cultural settings. This theological dictionary defines the principal theological usages of Rabbinic Judaism as set forth in the Rabbinic canon of late antiquity, Mishnah, Talmuds, and Midrash-compilations. It systematically lays [1] the theological categories that are native to those writings; [2] cogent statements that can be made with them; [3] coherent propositions that those statements set forth and (within their own terms and framework) logically demonstrate as true and self-evident, both. Volume One of this dictionary covers vocabulary that permits the classification of religious knowledge and experience, and the organization and categorization of those data into intelligible and cogent sense-units. Volume Two shows how these classifications combine and recombine in sentences. We may deem these rules of theological discourse concerning religious experience to be the counterpart of syntax which words combine (or do not combine) with which other words, in what inflection or signaled relationship, and why. Volume Three shows how the theology accomplishes its goals of analysis, explanation, and anticipation in order to make sense of and impose meaning upon a subject. That marks the point at which constructive theology commences and systematic theology will find its language.

Studies in the Judicial Methodology of Rabbi David Ibn Abi Zimra

Studies in the Judicial Methodology of Rabbi David Ibn Abi Zimra
Author: Samuel Morell
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2004
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780761827078

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.