Between the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds: Accounting for Halakhic Difference in Selected Sugyot from Tractate Avodah Zarah: (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: In this book, Hayes addresses the central concern in talmudic studies over the genesis of halakhic (legal) divergence between the Talmuds produced by the Palestinian rabbinic community (c. 370 C.E.) and the Babylonian rabbinic community (c. 650 C.E.). Hayes... Details...

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation: (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: This study argues that the authors of Deuteronomy--a corpus of laws purportedly given to Israel through Moses--radically transformed ancient Israelite religion and society. Their new vision, says author Bernard Levinson, was completely without precedent and... Details...

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation: (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments:Positioned at the boundary of traditional biblical studies, legal history, and literary theory, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation shows how the legislation of Deuteronomy reflects the struggle of its authors to renew late seventh- century J... Details...

Jewish Ways of Reading the Bible (Journal of Semitic Studies #11): (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: This volume is a rich and varied collection of studies by major experts in the field of Jewish biblical interpretation. In exemplary studies covering classical, medieval and modern uses of the Bible, the authors address the issues of Jewish attitudes to, and... Details...

Narrative in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford Bible (Paperback)): (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: After almost two centuries of historical criticism, biblical scholarship has recently taken major shifts in direction, most notably toward literary study of the Bible. Much germinal criticism has taken as its primary focus narrative texts of the Hebrew Bibl... Details...

Peshat and Derash Plain and Applied Meaning in Rabbinic Exegesis: (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: This comprehensive and critical narration of the history and repercussions of Rabbinic exegesis of the Bible and Talmud investigates the tension that has often existed between the plain sense of the divine text and its creative interpretation. Details...

Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture in the Mishnah: (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: This volume offers a systematic and detailed description of early rabbinic hermeneutics as it can be reconstructed from the Mishnah (third century c.e.). Samely clarifies the conditions of a modern appreciation of rabbinic hermeneutics and provides a unifie... Details...

Reading the Rabbis The Talmud as Literature: (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: Traditionally, the Talmud was read as law, that is, as the authoritative source for Jewish practice and obligations. To this end, it was studied at the level of its most minute details, with readers often ignoring the composite whole and attending only to f... Details...

Reimagining the Bible The Storytelling of the Rabbis: (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: This collection is a unique contribution to Jewish studies by one of its leading scholars. Re-imagining the Bible presents a dozen essays from Howard Schwartz's published work. Some of them appeared as introductions to his books; others are taken from journ... Details...

Reimagining the Bible The Storytelling of the Rabbis: (Oxford University Press) Publisher's Comments: This collection is a unique contribution to Jewish studies by one of its leading scholars. Re-imagining the Bible presents a dozen essays from Howard Schwartz's published work. Some of them appeared as introductions to his books; others are taken from journ... Details...