Theological and Philosophical Premises of Judaism

Jacob Neusner

Published by Academic Studies Press 2008

Theological and Philosophical Premises of Judaism

Jacob Neusner

In the series Judaism and Jewish Life

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781618111012

Overview
Contents

About this book

Classical Judaism imagined the situation of the people of Israel to be unique among the nations of the earth in three aspects. The nations lived in unclean lands, contaminated by corpses and redolent of death. They themselves were destined to die without hope of renewed life after the grave. They were prisoners of secular time, subject to the movement and laws of history in its inexorable logic. Heaven did not pay attention to what they did and did not care about their conduct, so long as they observed the basic decencies mandated by the commandments that applied to the heirs of Noah, seven fundamental rules in all. That is not how Israel the holy people was conceived. The Israel contemplated by Rabbinic Judaism lived in sacred space and in enchanted time, all the while subject to the constant surveillance of an eye that sees all, an ear that hears all, and a sentient being that recalls all. Why the divine obsession with Israel? God yearned for Israel’s love and constantly contemplated its conduct. The world imagined by the Rabbis situated Israel in an enchanted kingdom, a never-never land, and conceived of God as omniscient and ubiquitous. Here Neusner shows that in its generative theology, Rabbinic Judaism in its formative age invoked the perpetual presence of God overseeing all that Israelites said and did. It conceived of Israel as transcending the movement of history and living in a perpetual present tense. Israel located itself in a Land like no other, and it organized its social order in a hierarchical structure ascending to the one God situated at the climax and head of all being.

Author / Editor information

Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Service Professor of the History and Theology of Judaism and Senior Fellow, Institute of Advanced Theology, Bard College. He is also a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton NJ, and Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, in England. He has published more than 100 books and unnumbered articles, both scholarly and academic and popular and journalistic, and is the most published humanities scholar in the world.

Reviews

Shmuel Ben-Gad, George Washington University, Washington, DC:
"This is a learned and very detailed study…"

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
THREE THEOLOGICAL PREMISES OF JUDAISM
1. SPEECH: An eye that sees an ear that hears Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. TIME: “Considerations of Temporal Priority or Posteriority Do Not Enter into the Torah” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
3. SPACE: The land of Israel is holier than all lands Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
THE PHILOSOPHICAL PREMISE OF JUDAISM
4. ANALYSIS: Hierarchical classification and the Law’s Philosophical Demonstration of Monotheism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
5. MIXTURES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
6. ANALYSIS: Intentionality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
INTEGRAL JUDAISM
7. Integrating the System Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
8. Living in the kingdom of God Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Index of Ancient Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Index of Subjects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242

Language: English
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 256

eBook

Published: May 1, 2008
ISBN: 9781618111012