What, in Judaism - a religion so concerned with social norms and public policy - can we possibly mean by "law"? That is the thoroughly fresh perspective with which this work commences. It proceeds with two chapters on Second Temple Judaism, and two on the special subject of the Dead Sea library.
Learning withers when criticism is substituted by political consensus, and when other than broadly accepted viewpoints find a hearing only with difficulty, if at all. The editors, therefore, invited colleagues from the USA, Europe, and the State of Israel to systematically outline their views in...

The authors have asked of the documents of the Dead Sea Library found at Qumran a simple question: how does each participate in a single Judaic religious system? They propose a reading of the Scrolls from the hypothesis that all of them, in one way or another, rest upon one, authoritative, Judaism. Their analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls describes how diverse writings hold together to make a single coherent statement, to stand for a religious system possessed of integrity and wisdom. This account of the world view of Judaism covers principal questions addressed to any Judaic religious system:...

The authors have asked of the documents of the Dead Sea Library found at Qumran a simple question: how does each participate in a single Judaic religious system? They propose a reading of the Scrolls from the hypothesis that all of them, in one way or another, rest upon one, authoritative, Judaism. Their analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls describes how diverse writings hold together to make a single coherent statement, to stand for a religious system possessed of integrity and wisdom. This account of the world view of Judaism covers principal questions addressed to any Judaic religious system:...

The authors of the studies on the Mishnah collected in the present volumes represent the best of contemporary scholarship on that document. In the past thirty years, the Mishnah seen as a document on its own terms has taken its place as a principal focus in the academic study of religion and of Judaism. Many university scholars have participated in the contemporary revolution in the description, analysis, and interpretation of the Mishnah. Nearly all the publishing scholars of the academy (as distinct from the yeshiva or rabbinical seminary) who are now at work are represented in this...

Here we reread George W.E. Nickelsburg's more important articles and encounter afresh some of his books, to criticize them and to attend to his response to the criticism. This set of Auseinandersetzungen thus carries forward the life of learning and debate that yields a rich harvest of scholarship. It pays tribute to a scholar through acts of engaged, critical scholarship, in which specialists reread articles reproduced in these pages and respond to them, with Nickelsburg then joining issue--a protracted engagement, spanning an entire intellectual career and many of its more important...

In these volumes, top scholars in the study of religion celebrate the enduring heritage in learning bequeathed to coming generations by Anthony J. Saldarini (1941-2001). Twenty-nine commemorative essays focus on the topical areas of formative Christianity and Judaism to which Dr. Saldarini devoted his efforts: earliest Christianity, with special attention to the Gospels; Judaism in late antiquity; and the interchange between Judaism and Christianity then and now. So too the disciplines represented in these pages match his history (including archaeology), literature, religion, and theology....

The "Review of Rabbinic Judaism," the first and only annual to focus upon Rabbinic Judaism in particular, will publish principal articles, essays on method and criticism, systematic debates ("Auseindersetzungen"), occasional notes, long book reviews, reviews of issues of scholarly journals, assessments of textbooks and instructional materials, and other media of academic discourse, scholarly and educational alike. The "Review" fills the gap in the study of Judaism, which is left by the prevailing division of Rabbinic Judaism among the standard historical periods (ancient, medieval, modern)...

The Encyclopedia of Midrash -- Biblical Interpretation in Formative Judaism, provides a systematic account of biblical interpretation in Judaism, from well before the second century BCE through the end of the seventh century CE. While emphasizing the Rabbinic literature, it also covers interpretation of Scripture in a number of distinct canons, ranging from the Targumic literature and Dead Sea Scrolls to the New Testament and Church Fathers. The encyclopedia comprises fifty-six essays written by thirty scholars, representing the leading figures in the study of ancient Judaism and...

The Annual of Rabbinic Judaism, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, the first and only annual with a special focus on Rabbinic Judaism, will publish principal articles, essays on method and criticism, systematic debates (Auseindersetzungen), occasional notes, long book reviews, reviews of issues of scholarly journals, assessments of textbooks and instructional materials, and other media of academic discourse, scholarly and educational alike. The Annual fills the gap in the study of Judaism, the religion, which is left by the prevailing division of Rabbinic Judaism into the...