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Zusatztext "Vidas's book is eloquent testimony to the high level of conceptual sophistication that has been achieved in the academic field of Talmud study in recent years. It bodes well for the future of the field in American academia." ---Pinchas Roth, AJL Newsletter Informationen zum Autor Moulie Vidas is an assistant professor in the Department of Religion and the Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University. Klappentext Tradition and the Formation of the Talmud offers a new perspective on perhaps the most important religious text of the Jewish tradition. It is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed the older traditions on which they drew. Nevertheless! it has been assumed that the ancient rabbis were committed to maintaining continuity with the past. Moulie Vidas argues on the contrary that structural features of the Talmud were designed to produce a discontinuity with tradition! and that this discontinuity was part and parcel of the rabbis' self-conception. Both this self-conception and these structural features were part of a debate within and beyond the Jewish community about the transmission of tradition. Tradition and the Formation of the Talmud provides an entirely fresh look at the nature of the Talmud and its meanings. Zusammenfassung Tradition and the Formation of the Talmud offers a new perspective on perhaps the most important religious text of the Jewish tradition. It is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed the older traditions on which they drew. Nevertheless, it has been assumed that the ancient rabbis were committed to maintaining continuity with the past. Moulie Vidas argues on the contrary that structural features of the Talmud were designed to produce a discontinuity with tradition, and that this discontinuity was part and parcel of the rabbis' self-conception. Both this self-conception and these structural features were part of a debate within and beyond the Jewish community about the transmission of tradition. Focusing on the Babylonian Talmud, produced in the rabbinic academies of late ancient Mesopotamia, Vidas analyzes key passages to show how the Talmud's creators contrasted their own voice with that of their predecessors. He also examines Zoroastrian, Christian, and mystical Jewish sources to reconstruct the debates and wide-ranging conversations that shaped the Talmud's literary and intellectual character. Inhaltsverzeichnis A Note on Style Conventions vii Introduction 1 PART I 21 Chapter One The Alterity of Tradition 23 Chapter Two The Division into Layers 45 Chapter Three Composition as Critique 81 PART II 113 Chapter Four Scholars! Transmitters! and the Making of talmud 115 Chapter Five The Debate about Recitation 150 Chapter Six Tradition and Vision 167 Conclusion 203 Acknowledgments 215 Bibliography 217 Source Index 233 Subject Index 237 ...
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"One of the most important trends in Talmud scholarship of the past half century is the recognition of the anonymous editorial hand. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of Vidas's argument: that this editorial hand knowingly puts forth an active, innovative voice for itself, rather than one that is passive and muted. A wonderful piece of scholarship."--Azzan Yadin-Israel, Rutgers University
