Studies in the History of Judaism Series

Volume 2

From Text to Historical Context in Rabbinic Judaism

Neusner (U. of South Florida) introduces and critiques four approaches to describing the structure, system, and Western context of formative rabbinic Judaism -- casting his lot with the last: nominalist, harmonistic, theological, and historical. Indexed by biblical and Talmudic reference as well as subject.

The Tosefta

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 January 1986

The Documentary Form-History of Rabbinic Litarature, I

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 January 1998

Completes Neusner's description of the formal traits of canonical writings of Rabbinic Judaism. The first volume focuses on the Mishnah, the most formalized of all Rabbinic writings, identifying the paradigms that define the document's literary protocol. The second volume considers the successor doc

An Invitation to Midrash

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 December 1989

Reprint of a 1988 work (Harper & Row). Strictly speaking, Judaism is not a biblical religion according to Neusner (religious studies, U. of South Florida; Bard College, NY), who argues that Midrash--interpretations of the oral Torah-- reveal that the written Hebrew Scriptures are but half the ancien

Stranger at Home

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 April 1981

Judaism in Society

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 March 1984

The Talmud

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 January 1992

Wherever Jews have settled and whatever languages they spoke, they created a community with a single set of common values. One law, one theology defined the community throughout their many migrations. A single book explains how this came about-the Talmud. Renowned scholar Jacob Neusner introduces readers to the Talmud, defining it, explaining its historical context, and illustrating why it remains relevant today.

Tosefta (Third Division)

by Jacob Neusner

Published 3 May 2000

Tosefta (Fourth Division)

by Jacob Neusner

Published 3 May 2000

Concludes Neusner's translation of the whole of Tosefta. The fourth division is based on M. S. Zuckermandel's 1881 reproduction of the Vienna manuscript. A vine to the trellis of the Mishnah, he says, it explains, elaborates, augments, cites, glosses, and adds relevant cases and examples. The 1981 e

The Judaic Law of Baptism

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 January 1995

Symbol and Theology in Early Judaism

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 April 1991

Analyzes the new mode of talking about God that took shape in synagogue art and rabbinic writing in the fifth and sixth centuries CE, and appealed not to propositional but to symbolic modes of discourse. Demonstrates how it combined and recombined various symbols to make normative theological statem

What, Exactly, Did the Rabbinic Sages Mean by The Oral Torah

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 March 2000

Examines the evolution of the concept that Moses received two versions of the Torah at Sinai, one written and one oral, and that the oral version has been passed down, mouth-to-mouth, to the present day. Follows the chain of documents on the written side, looks at how the two Torah differ, and compares how the difference has been understood in vari

The Economics of the Mishnah

by Jacob Neusner

Published 23 January 1990

In this compelling study, Jacob Neusner argues that economics is an active and generative ingredient of the system of the Mishnah. The Mishnah directly addresses such economic concerns as the value of work, agronomics, currency, commerce and the marketplace, and correct management of labor and of the household. In all its breadth, the Mishnah poses the question of the critical place occupied by the economy in society under God's rule.

The Economics of the Mishnah is the first book to examine the place of economic theory generally in the Judaic system of the Mishnah. Jacob Neusner begins by surveying previous work on economics and Judaism, the best known being Werner Sombart's The Jews and Modern Capitalism. The mistaken notion that Jews have had a common economic history has outlived the demise of Sombart's argument, and it is a notion that Neusner overturns before discussing the Mishnaic economics.

Only in Aristotle, Neusner argues, do we find an equal to the Mishnah's accomplishment in engaging economics in the service of a larger systemic statement. Neusner shows that the framers of the Mishnah imagined a distributive economy functioning through the Temple and priesthood, while also legislating for the action of markets. The economics of the Mishnah, then, is to some extent a mixed economy. The dominant, distributive element in this mixed economy, Neusner contends, derives from the belief that the Temple and its designated castes on earth exercise God's claim to the ownership of the holy land. He concludes by considering the implications of the derivation of the Mishnah's economics from the interests of the undercapitalized and overextended farmer.

Jewish Law from Moses to the Mishnah

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 January 1998

The Place of the Tosefta in the Halakhah of Formative Judaism

by Jacob Neusner

Published 1 January 1998

Criticizes Houtman's 1996 dissertation for the University of Utrecht Mishnah and Tosefta: A Synoptic Comparison of the Tractates Berakhot and Shebit (in Dutch) and its subsequent published version. Argues that she considers only the formal traits of documents and ignores the content, which provides clues to which texts are central and germinal and