Jacob Neusner Works on Judaic Hermeneutics (7 vols.)

by Jacob Neusner

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 2003–2012

Overview

In this collection, renowned Judaica scholar Jacob Neusner continues his examination of the social, intellectual, and religious perspectives within formative Jewish texts. In his new translation and analysis of the rabbinic document Genesis Rabbah, Neusner explains how it affected the Jewish interpretation of creation in Genesis. His Judaism and Story documents a chapter of rabbinic tradition that explored the possibility of historical orientation by means of stories. This collection also includes Midrash as Literature, Neusner’s contribution to a debate with fellow Hebrew literature scholar James Kugel. These and other volumes in this collection provide a strong foundation for interpreting some of the most important texts in the history of Judaism.

In the Logos edition, this collection is enhanced by amazing functionality. Scripture citations link directly to English translations, and important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.

Key Features

• Offers wide-ranging interpretations of numerous Judaic texts
• Includes contributions from several scholars of Judaic studies
• Contains glossaries and indices for clarification of terms

Product Details

• Title: Jacob Neusner Works on Judaic Hermeneutics
• Author: Jacob Neusner
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Volumes: 7
• Pages: 2,140
• Resource Type: Monographs
• Topic: Judaica

Confronting Creation: How Judaism Reads Genesis

• Author: Jacob Neusner
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2004
• Pages: 400

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

By setting forth the book of Genesis as it is represented in the rabbinic statement Genesis Rabbah, renowned scholar Jacob Neusner demonstrates how Judaism confronted creation and the Genesis story. This event was crucial in the life of Israel and the Jewish people because it helped shape the entire history of Western civilization—the rise of Christianity to the status of the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Judaic sages’ rereading of the Torah’s creation accountsof the world and Israel took place during a time of significant change in Western civilization.

Confronting Creation does what it claims to do and does it superbly. The author opens, unpacks, and presents in intelligible form a significant, but complicated, Rabbinic text.

—Rabbi Joel H. Zaiman, Chizuk Amuno Congregation, Baltimore, Maryland

Form-Analysis and Exegesis: A Fresh Approach to the Interpretation of Mishnah with Special Reference to Mishnah-tractate Makhshirin

• Author: Jacob Neusner
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 230

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In Form-Analysis and Exegesis, Neusner explains how the Makhshirin, the eighth tractate in the order Tohorot in the Mishnah and Tosefta, is organized and outlines it by chapter. He highlights the problems of the Mishnah and discusses prevailing solutions to these problems.

Judaism and Scripture: The Evidence of Leviticus Rabbah

• Author: Jacob Neusner
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 664

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Tracing the relationship between the book of Leviticus and its rabbinic commentary, Jacob Neusner asks how the rabbis who stand behind the text make use of Leviticus and how, through their comments on it, they make intelligible and comprehensible statements of their own. In answering these two questions Neusner shows, through a prime example, exactly how Scripture enters Judaism and how rabbis of the formative age of Judaism chose and taught the lessons they deemed critical to the life of Israel, the Jewish people.

Judaism and Story: The Evidence of the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan

• Author: Jacob Neusner
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 264

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this close analysis of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, Jacob Neusner considers the way in which the story entered the canonical writings of Judaism. The final installment in Neusner’s analysis of major texts of the Judaic canon, Judaism and Story shows that stories about sages exist in far greater proportion in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan than in any of the other principal writings in the canon of Judaism. Neusner’s detailed comparison of The Fathers and The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan demonstrates the transmission and elaboration of these stories and shows how these processes incorporated the newer view of the sage as a supernatural figure and of the eschatological character of Judaic teleology. These distinctions, as Neusner describes them, mark a shift in Jewish orientation to world history.

As Neusner demonstrates, this experiment with narrative went beyond argumentation focused on the explication of the Torah. The sage story moved in the direction of biography, but without allowing biography to emerge. This development, in Neusner’s account, parallels the movement from epistle to Gospel in early Christianity and thus has broad implications for the history of religions.

Law as Literature

• Author: Jacob Neusner
• Editor: William Scott Green
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 146

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In Law as Literature, editor William Scott Green, compiles research done by Jacob Neusner and others on various books of Judaic law, including Neusner’s chapter on the Mishnah Tohorot 2:2-8, and others’ chapters on the Yebamot and the Berakot treatises of the Talmud.

William Scott Green is senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate education at the University of Miami. He was Philip S. Bernstein Professor of Judaic Studies at Miami until 2006. Green has held fellowships from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. He is coeditor, with Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck, of The Encylopedia of Judaism.

Midrash as Literature: The Primacy of Discourse

• Author: Jacob Neusner
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 254

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this book, Jacob Neusner conducts a debate with James Kugel about the definition and character of midrash, a particular literary genre within Judaism. The issues of the debate transcend the narrow framework of Judaic religious writing, for at the heart of matters is a much-vexed question. It is whether, and to what extent, one should read and interpret a work of literature initially within a particular social and historical context.

Sacred Texts and Authority

• Editor: Jacob Neusner
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 182

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

A man takes the Qur’an in his hand, carefully pronouncing each syllable of Arabic, repeating the language of Allah. A family gathers together to read the story of Christ’s passion. A young nun pores over the sutras, searching for an answer.

Sacred Texts and Authority probes what five great world religions mean by the term “sacred text.” For many religions, a text might not be a document. It might include a person, drama, or dance informing teachings that will be remembered through the passage of time. How are such texts related to authoritative teachings? What claims does a traditional authority hold on current believers and seekers? These insightful questions are answered by authorities on each tradition.

About Jacob Neusner

Jacob Neusner is research professor of theology and senior fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College.