The Idea of History in Rabbinic JudaismBRILL, 2004 - 340 עמודים History provides one way of marking time. But there are others, and the Judaism of the dual Torah, set forth in the Rabbinic literature from the Mishnah through the Talmud of Babylonia, ca. 200-600 C.E., defines one such alternative. This book tells the story of how a historical way of thinking about past, present, and future, time and eternity, the here and now in relationship to the ages, « that is, Scripture's way of thinking » gave way to another mode of thought altogether. This other model Neusner calls a paradigm, because a pattern imposed meaning and order on things that happened. Paradigmatic modes of thought took the place of historical ones. Thinking through paradigms, with a conception of time that elides past and present and removes all barriers between them, in fact governs the reception of Scripture in Judaism until nearly our own time. Neusner here explains through the single case of Rabbinic Judaism, precisely how that other way of reading Scripture did its work, and why, for so many centuries, that reading of the heritage of ancient Israel governed. At stake are [1] a conception of time different from the historical one and [2] premises on how to take the measure of time that form a legitimate alternative to those that define the foundations of the historical way of measuring time. Fully exposed, those alternative premises may prove as logical and compelling as the historical ones. The approach follows the documentary history of ideas, and individual chapters describe the treatment of historical topics in the Mishnah, the Talmud of the Land of Israel (a.k.a., the Yerushalmi), Genesis Rabbah, that is, ca. 200, 400, and 450 CE, and Pesiqta deRab Kahana, ca. 500 CE. |
תוכן
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
HEBREW SCRIPTURE AND THE REQUIREMENTS OF HISTORICAL | 15 |
II | 45 |
From Historical Time to Time Cyclical and Time | 54 |
An Example in Rabbinic | 61 |
MISSING MEDIA OF HISTORICAL THINKING I THE SUSTAINING | 71 |
Scripture RePresented in the Immediacy of | 106 |
THE ENDURING PARADIGM | 115 |
IS RABBINIC JUDAISM A RELIGION OF MEMORY? | 193 |
PART | 231 |
THE YERUSHALMIS CONCEPTION OF HISTORY | 252 |
GENESIS RABBAH AND THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL | 268 |
ASTRAL ISRAEL IN PESIQTA DERAB KAHANA | 287 |
WHAT EXACTLY DO WE MEAN BY AN EVENT IN JUDAISM? | 308 |
329 | |
335 | |
מונחים וביטויים נפוצים
Abraham ancient Israel Aqiba Babylonia Betar biblical biography blessed Chapter character conception of history context counterpart cult cycle cyclical defined differentiation documents Edom Egypt exemplary explain fact formulation future GENESIS RABBAH God's hand happened heaven Hebrew Scriptures historical thinking history of Israel history's Holy human Israel's history Israelite Jacob Jerusalem Judah king kingdom Land of Israel LEVITICUS RABBAH linear Lord marked matters meaning memory Messiah MIDRASH-COMPILATIONS Mishnah MISHNAH-TRACTATE mode of thought moon Moses natural nature's ninth of Ab Numbers one-time events paradigm paradigmatic thinking Passover past and present pattern Pesiqta deRab Kahana precisely prophets Rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic sages reading refers Rome rules Sabbath Scripture's sense sequence serve SIFRÉ social order Song of Songs Songs Rabbah specific statement story sustained narrative Talmud teleology Temple theology things tion took Torah torical Tosefta tradition unique verse Yerushalmi yield Yohanan Zebahim