From Text to Tradition (Schiffman - pbk)

Author: Lawrence H. Schiffman

ISBN: 9780881253726

Binding: paperback

Section: Christianity-General

Subtitle: A History of Second Temple & Rabbinic Judaism

From Text to Tradition examines the history of Judaism as it developed from the religion on the biblical Israel to the Judaism of the talmudic rabbis. Each step in this process is discussed from the historical, literary and religious points of view and the context of the political history of the Jews. One of the book's major theses is that the various approaches to Judaism shared sufficient common ground as to be classified as one, albeit variegated, religious tradition. Diverging trends may be — and are — traced during this period, as is the question of the role of interpretation, the impact of external influences, and the process by which the competing approaches were eventually supplanted by the rabbinic tradition, which became the basis for medieval and modern Judaism.