Concludes a series that Neusner characterizes not as an exhaustive history of Babylonian Jewry and Judaism, but an effort to promote the understanding of a few basic problems of Talmudic historiography and religion. He extends the account past the beginning of the sixth century, when most historians
Advancing his monumental study of formative Judaism further, Jacob Neusner examines the notion of divine incarnations as a central element of the portrait of God that came into focus through the Judaism of the dual Torah. In dealing with his concept—which is obviously critical for Christian theology also—Neusner shows how God was described in allusions and narratives as corporeal, exhibiting traits of emotions like those of human beings, and doing deeds that women and men do.
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