The Mind of the Talmud: An Intellectual History of the Bavli

by David Kraemer

Overview

This critical study traces the development of the literary forms and conventions of the Babylonian Talmud, or Bavli, analyzing those forms as expressions of emergent rabbinic ideology. The Bavli, which evolved between the third and sixth centuries in Sasanian Iran (Babylonia), is the most comprehensive of all documents produced by rabbinic Jews in late antiquity. It became the authoritative legal source for medieval Judaism, and for some its opinions remain definitive today. Kraemer here examines the characteristic preference for argumentation and process over settled conclusions of the Bavli. By tracing the evolution of the argumentational style, he describes the distinct eras in the development of rabbinic Judaism in Babylonia. He then analyzes the meaning of the disputational form and concludes that the talmudic form implies the inaccessibility of perfect truth and that on account of this opinion, the pursuit of truth, in the characteristic talmudic concern for rabbinic process, becomes the ultimate act of rabbinic piety.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195062908
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/06/1990
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Table of Contents

	Glossary	xiii
	Abbreviations	xv
	Introduction	3
1.	On Writing an Intellectual History of the Bavli	9
	The Meaning of Literary Forms	9
	The Bavli: A Preliminary Description	16
	The Bavli's Sources: On the Reliability of Attributions	20
2.	A History of Amoraic Literary Expression	26
	The First Amoraic Period	30
	The Second Amoraic Period	35
	The Third Amoraic Period	39
	The Meaning of the Evidence	41
3.	The Preservation of Amoraic Argumentation	50
	The Evidence	55
	More Evidence and Conclusions	63
Appendix A	The Data at a Glance	72
Appendix B	The Data in Detail	72
4.	The Bavli Considered as a Whole	79
	The Urgency for Argumentation	79
	Building on Earlier Argumentation	80
	Building on Brief Traditions	84
	Fictional Argumentation	87
	Argumentation for Its Own Sake	90
	The Bavli and the Yerushalmi Distinguished	93
5.	The Meaning of Argumentation	99
	A Philosophical Analysis: The Indeterminability of Truth	99
	Historical Underpinnings	112
	Theological Underpinnings	120
Appendix	The Erosion of Authority in the Bavli's Sources	127
6.	The Bavli on "Truth,"	139
	The Separation of Truth and Practice	139
	The Centering of Human Reason: Reason and Revelation	146
	Human Reason on Its Own Terms: Learning Becomes Torah	156
7.	The Bavli in Comparative Perspective	171
	Truth in the Classical Philosophical Tradition	175
	Religious Traditions and Truth	179
	Philosophy Meets Scripture	183
	In Conclusion: Why the Bavli?	187
	Notes	191
	Bibliography	207
	General Index	213
	Index to Primary Rabbinic Sources	217

Editorial Reviews

"A very important contribution...to the modern study of rabbinic Judaism; any library with holdings in religious studies or Judaic studies should have this book."—Choice

"Provides much food for thought for the history of rabbinic ideas."—Religious Studies Review

"Using rigorous scholarly methods of literary criticism, the study of religion, and the sociology of knowledge ... Professor Kraemer docmuments how the structure of the Talmud speaks to the religiou struggles of today's Jews ... This book heralds a vital partnership between academy and synagogue."—Conservative Judaism

"A delightful dance of theology and intellectual revisionism....Those who have the patience to follow the delights of his well wrought argument will close the book profoundly satisfied and deeply disturbed."—Shofar

"A significant work—well thought through, balanced in its judgments, judicious in its criticism of other scholarship, vigorously and carefully argued, and lucidly written. It is very much on the forefront of its field, displaying considerable methodological and conceptual sophistication, and responding as well to much recent work in the areas of literary and rhetorical criticism, religious studies, and the sociology of knowledge."—Richard S. Sarason, Hebrew Union College

From the Publisher