This collection of ten essays and five book reviews draws on three years of work, from late 2005 through mid-2008. It begins with two Halakhic essays, one on the category-formations of the Halakhah and how to account for the ones that we do not have but ought to have anticipated. The argument proceeds to another way of formulating the historical problem of the Talmud, its roots in Scripture. This is followed by an account of how the Halakhah actualizes the Torah's narrative.
Also included are four essays on Classical Judaism and two literary studies, which show both old and new engagements. Five book reviews conclude the collection, one of them a review essay, covering Edward Kaplan's two volumes on Abraham J. Heschel.
This collection of ten essays and five book reviews draws on three years of work, from late 2005 through mid-2008. Included are Halakhic essays, essays on Classical Judaism, and two literary studies. Five book reviews conclude the collection, one of them a review essay, covering Edward Kaplan's two volumes on Abraham J. Heschel.
Chapter 1
1. The Halakhic Category Formations of Normative Judaism: Why this, not that, in the Mishnah-Tosefta-Yerushalmi-Bavli?
Chapter 2
2. Religious Jurisprudence in Judaism; The Halakhic Theology Seen Whole: Actualizing the Torah's Story
Chapter 3
3. The Religious Meaning of the Torah
Chapter 4
4. Is Judaism a traditional Religion?
Chapter 5
5. The Golden Rule in Classical Judaism
Chapter 6
6. Divine Love in Classical Judaism
Chapter 7
7. Why No Science in Judaism?
Chapter 8
8. Is Scripture the Origin of the Halakhah?
Chapter 9
9. Testing the Results of Richard Kalmin: A Null Hypothesis Examined in the Setting of Mishnah and Bavlii Tractate Moed Qatan
Chapter 10
10. Is the Yerushalmi Constructed in Accord with Analytical Templates?
Chapter 11
11. Gabriele Boccaccini, Roots of Rabbinic Judaism: An Intellectual History, From Ezekial to Daniel
Chapter 12
12. Bruce Chilton, Abraham's Curse: Child Sacrifice in the Legacies of the West
Chapter 13
13. Edward K. Kaplan and Samuel H. Dresner, Abraham Joshua Heschel: Prophetic Witness. Edward Kaplan, Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America, 1940-1972
Chapter 14
14. Jonathan Sacks, The Home We Build Together: Recreating Society
Chapter 15
15. Jonathan Cohen,Philosophers and Scholars: Wolfson, Guttman and Strauss on the History of Jewish Philosophy
Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Service Professor of the History and Theology of Judaism and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He is a Member of the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, and a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He holds nine honorary degrees and fourteen academic medals and other awards and has published more than a thousand books.
