tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358603577059630653.post7933337771563527951..comments2023-10-22T09:19:57.342-04:00Comments on אישים ושיטות: Biblicalia on theology of the Oral TorahWolf2191http://www.blogger.com/profile/13577870680689849400noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358603577059630653.post-19243086070209333212008-10-20T14:00:00.000-04:002008-10-20T14:00:00.000-04:00You're very welcome!I've king of lost my momentum ...You're very welcome!<BR/><BR/>I've king of lost my momentum over the weekend. The next post for chapter 8, on Complementarity, should be up tonight.Kevin P. Edgecombhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590490181739464401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358603577059630653.post-41063470011425673882008-10-19T16:28:00.000-04:002008-10-19T16:28:00.000-04:00Thanks for that, Chaim. I'll look up those articl...Thanks for that, Chaim. I'll look up those articles.<BR/><BR/>I think Neusner's changes began a bit earlier, around 1970, when he started moving away from a more traditional historical-exegetical reading of the rabbinic canon and into his more form-analytical and systematic work. This led to his own change of opinion on the value of his earlier work trying to biographize and historicize directly from the rabbinic documents. There are, of course, plenty of people (especially in a yeshiva context) who strongly disagree with both his methods and conclusions. This is only to be expected, as most of his work is taking an entirely new direction, and it was his earlier work, which he now repudiates, whose conclusions were more similar to their own. In any new direction taken, there are bound to be some dead ends. He is, for one, working on a new Yerushalmi translation which would undoubtedly be more appealing to Prof Lieberman.<BR/><BR/>Neusner's <I>Theology of the Oral Torah</I> (and the following <I>Theology of the Halakhah</I>) are likewise setting out in a new direction. I would agree that there is a superficial comparison to Western modes of systematization, but this is only superficial. From Neusner's position, the sages systematized the paradigms of Oral Torah from Written Torah, thus systematization was in play in the very genesis of the corpus, and native to its culture. So, his extrapolation of some of the core principles motivating this work (and he admits up front that these are his impression--a very informed impression to be sure, but still an impression) follows along in the footsteps of the original compilers. It's fascinating and brilliant even if one were to find it completely unacceptable from one's viewpoint, whatever that may be.<BR/><BR/>I'm glad to see you're enjoying my little series, though! I should have the next post up this evening.Kevin P. Edgecombhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590490181739464401noreply@blogger.com