The Intellectual Foundations of Christian and Jewish Discourse: The Philosophy of Religious Argument

by Bruce Chilton, Jacob Neusner

Overview

The Intellectual Foundations of Christian and Jewish Discourse argues that the Judaic and Christian heirs of Scripture adopted, and adapted to their own purposes and tasks, Greek philosophical modes of thought and argument. The authors explore how the earliest intellectuals of Christianity and Judaism shaped a tradition of articulated conflict and reasoned argument in the search for religious truth that was to be shared through continuing that argument with others.
Neusner and Chilton examine, using the formative sources of Judaism and Christianity, the literary media of adaptation and reform: precisely where and how we identify in the foundation writings of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism the new opposing modes of articulated conflict and reasoned argument that through Christianity and Judaism, Greek philosophy and science bequeathed to the West.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415153997
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/04/1997
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Research Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida and Professor of Religious Studies at Bard College New York. Bruce Chilton is Bernard Idding Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, New York.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: Confronting Conflict, Articulating Disagreement in a Reasoned Setting, 1. Confronting Conflict in the Mishnah, 2. Confronting Conflict in the Letters of Paul, 3. Conducting Dialectical Argument in the Talmud, 4. Conducting Dialectical Argument in Origen, PART TWO: Seeking Truth, The Character of the Arguments, 5. Arguments from Natural History in the Mishnah and in Leviticus Rabbah, 6. Arguments From Nature Irenaeus, 7. Arguments From Social History: Paradigmatic Thinking in Ruth Rabbah, Pesiqta Derab Kahana, and Genesis Rabbah, 8. Arguments From Social History: Paradigmatic Thinking in Augustine, Index.

Editorial Reviews

'Readers will be impressed by the clear and profound levels of analysis provided by both authors.' u Religious Studies

From the Publisher