Tractates Tamid, Middot and Qinnim
Tractates Tamid, Middot and Qinnim

Author: Dalia Marx

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9783161524967

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Dalia Marx provides a general introduction and feminist commentary on the last three tractates of the order of Qodashim . Each tractate deals with different aspects of the Second Temple as perceived by the rabbis and each sheds its own light on gender issues. The commentary on Tamid, a tractate dealing with the priestly service in the Temple, discusses the priests as a gender unto themselves and considers women as potential participants in the lay-service of the Temple and perhaps even as part of the sacred service. Middot concerns itself with the design of the Temple, and the commentary explores sacred space from a gendered perspective. Finally, Marx turns to Qinnim, a tractate dealing with bird offerings, typically brought by women. The commentary shows how the tractate employs images of women to develop its discourse. This volume opens a unique window onto the rabbis' perspectives on the Temple and gender related matters.

Is Scripture the Origin of the Halakhah?
Is Scripture the Origin of the Halakhah?

Author: Jacob Neusner

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9780761831174

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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.

The Book of Mary
The Book of Mary

Author: Michael P. Closs

Publisher: FriesenPress

Published: 2016-06-29

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 1460284879

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"The Protevangelium has long been recognized as the single most important manuscript associated with the development of Marian dogma in early Christianity. The theology of the manuscript and the interpretation of its contents, however, have been woefuly misunderstood for almost two thousand years. The present work reveals that the Protevangelium is a theological presentation of Mary in the same genre as the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke. The story of Mary in the Protevangelium tells of a Jewish maiden whose unique vocation was to the the mother of the holy one, the Son of the Most High. The christological awareness in the Gospel times was sufficient to single out Mary's place in salvation history. However, it was her role as a holy of holies of the divine presence -- a role that can only be understood within the holiness tradition of the Jewish people -- that first engendered her veneration among Christians"--Back cover.

Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash
Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash

Author: Hermann Leberecht Strack

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published:

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 9781451409147

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Gunter Stemberger's revision of H. L. Strack's classic introduction to rabbinic literature, which appeared in its first English edition in 1991, was widely acclaimed. Gunter Stemberger and Markus Bockmuehl have now produced this updated edition, which is a significant revision (completed in 1996) of the 1991 volume. Following Strack's original outline, Stemberger discusses first the historical framework, the basic principles of rabbinic literature and hermeneutics and the most important Rabbis. The main part of the book is devoted to the Talmudic and Midrashic literature in the light of contemporary rabbinic research. The appendix includes a new section on electronic resources for the study of the Talmud and Midrash. The result is a comprehensive work of reference that no student of rabbinics can afford to be without.

Lost Documents of Rabbinic Judaism
Lost Documents of Rabbinic Judaism

Author: Jacob Neusner

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2010-07-15

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 0761852417

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The canonical documents of Rabbinic Judaism impose upon most of their components fixed patterns of rhetoric, recurrent logic of coherent discourse, and a well-defined topic or program, for example, a commentary on a biblical book or on a legal topic. But some few compositions and composites of the Rabbinic canon of late antiquity diverge from the formal norms of the compilations in which they occur. In these pages, Neusner assembles anomalous compositions that occur in the Mishnah, Tosefta, four Tannaite Midrashim, and Genesis Rabbah, and he further tests the uniformity of the forms that govern in a familiar chapter of the Bavli. Neusner's surveys show for the documents probed here that some small segment of the composites and compositions of the surveyed documents does not conform to the indicative rules of rhetoric, topic, and logic. Consequently, we face the challenge of constructing models of lost documents of the Rabbinic canon, conforming to the models governing anomalous compositions. These follow other topical and rhetorical norms and therefore belong in other, different types of documents from those in which they now are located. These anomalous writings in topic, logic, or rhetoric (or all three) in theory reveal indicative characteristics other than the ones defining the compositions and composites of the documents in which they are now located.

A History of the Mishnaic Law of Holy Things, Part 6
A History of the Mishnaic Law of Holy Things, Part 6

Author: Jacob Neusner

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2007-04-01

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1725219247

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The history of Jews from the period of the Second Temple to the rise of Islam. From 'A History of the Mishnaic Law of Appointed Times, Part 1' This volume introduces the sources of Judaism in late antiquity to scholars in adjacent fields, such as the study of the Old and New Testaments, Ancient History, the ancient Near East, and the history of religion. In two volumes, leading American, Israeli, and European specialists in the history, literature, theology, and archaeology of Judaism offer factual answers to the two questions that the study of any religion in ancient times must raise. The first is, what are the sources -- written and in material culture -- that inform us about that religion? The second is, how have we to understand those sources in reconstructing the history of various Judaic systems in antiquity. The chapters set forth in simple statements, intelligible to non-specialists, the facts which the sources provide. Because of the nature of the subject and acute interest in it, the specialists also raise some questions particular to the study of Judaism, dealing with its historical relationship with nascent Christianity in New Testament times. The work forms the starting point for the study of all the principal questions concerning Judaism in late antiquity and sets forth the most current, critical results of scholarship.

A History of the Mishnaic Law of Holy Things, Part 5
A History of the Mishnaic Law of Holy Things, Part 5

Author: Jacob Neusner

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2007-04-01

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1556353537

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The history of Jews from the period of the Second Temple to the rise of Islam. From 'A History of the Mishnaic Law of Appointed Times, Part 1' This volume introduces the sources of Judaism in late antiquity to scholars in adjacent fields, such as the study of the Old and New Testaments, Ancient History, the ancient Near East, and the history of religion. In two volumes, leading American, Israeli, and European specialists in the history, literature, theology, and archaeology of Judaism offer factual answers to the two questions that the study of any religion in ancient times must raise. The first is, what are the sources -- written and in material culture -- that inform us about that religion? The second is, how have we to understand those sources in reconstructing the history of various Judaic systems in antiquity. The chapters set forth in simple statements, intelligible to non-specialists, the facts which the sources provide. Because of the nature of the subject and acute interest in it, the specialists also raise some questions particular to the study of Judaism, dealing with its historical relationship with nascent Christianity in New Testament times. The work forms the starting point for the study of all the principal questions concerning Judaism in late antiquity and sets forth the most current, critical results of scholarship.