Power, ethics, and ecology in Jewish late antiquity: rabbinic responses to drought and disaster

"Rabbinic tales of drought, disaster, and charismatic holy men illuminate critical questions about power, ethics, and ecology in Jewish late antiquity. Through a sustained reading of the Babylonian Talmud's tractate on fasts in response to drought, this book shows how Bavli Ta'anit ch...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Belser, Julia Watts 1978- (Auteur)
Type de support: Imprimé Livre
Langue:Anglais
Service de livraison Subito: Commander maintenant.
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: New York, NY Cambridge Univ. Press [2015]
Dans:Année: 2015
Recensions:Power, Ethics, and Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity. Rabbinic Responses to Drought and Disaster (2017) (Hezser, Catherine, 1960 -)
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Littérature rabbinique / Catastrophe (Motif)
Sujets non-standardisés:B Rain in rabbinical literature
B Rabbinical literature History and criticism
B Droughts in rabbinical literature
B Disasters in rabbinical literature
Description
Résumé:"Rabbinic tales of drought, disaster, and charismatic holy men illuminate critical questions about power, ethics, and ecology in Jewish late antiquity. Through a sustained reading of the Babylonian Talmud's tractate on fasts in response to drought, this book shows how Bavli Ta'anit challenges Deuteronomy's claim that virtue can assure abundance and that misfortune is an unambiguous sign of divine rebuke. Employing a new method for analyzing lengthy Talmudic narratives, Julia Watts Belser traces complex strands of aggadic dialectic to show how Bavli Ta'anit's redactors articulate a strikingly self-critical theological and ethical discourse. Bavli Ta'anit castigates rabbis for misuse of power, exposing the limits of their perception and critiquing prevailing obsessions with social status. But it also celebrates the possibilities of performative perception - the power of an adroit interpreter to transform events in the world and interpret crisis in a way that draws forth blessing --
Description:Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-229) and index
ISBN:1107113350