In the Seat of Moses: An Introductory Guide to Early Rabbinic Legal Rhetoric and Literary Conventions

by Jack N. Lightstone

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 2020

Overview

In the Seat of Moses offers readers a unique, frank, and penetrating analysis of the rise of rabbinic Judaism in the late Roman period. Over time and through masterly rhetorical strategy, rabbinic writings in post-temple Judaism come to occupy an authoritarian place within a pluralistic tradition. Slowly, the rabbis occupy the seat of Moses, and Lightstone introduces readers to this process, to the most significant texts, to the rhetorical styles and appeals to authority, and even to how authority came to be authority. As a seasoned and honest scholar, Lightstone achieves his goal of introducing novice readers to the often obscure world of rabbinic literary conventions with astounding success. This book is an excellent contribution to the Westar Studies series focused on religious literacy.

Key Features

• Offers a unique, frank, and penetrating analysis of the rise of rabbinic Judaism.
• Introduces to the most significant texts, to the rhetorical styles and appeals to authority.
• Guides into the arcane world of rabbinic legal discourse.

Praise for the Print Edition

Jack Lightstone writes now as the experienced teacher to a diverse audience just beginning to be exposed to the early literary legal classics of rabbinic Judaism, the Mishnah, Tosefta, legal midrash, the Jerusalem Talmud, and the Babylonian Talmud. . . . With skill and sometimes even humor, In the Seat of Moses carefully, systematically, and engagingly breaks down the barriers by building the reader’s basic knowledge and familiarity with this literature’s most pervasive, core literary and rhetorical forms. In so doing, the book opens up a world of evidence from the early rabbis to the non-expert interested in early Judaism, early Christianity, the foundations of rabbinic Judaism, Greco-Roman culture and literature, or ancient law.

—Simcha Fishbane, Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Touro College

I wish this book had been available when I was a graduate student, but I’m grateful to have it even now. With the skill of a master teacher, Lightstone guides his readers into the arcane world of rabbinic legal discourse—from the Mishnah to the Babylonian Talmud—by identifying the literary patterns and rhetorical structures that undergird it. An invaluable vade mecum, for novice students and seasoned non-specialists alike.

—Terence L. Donaldson, Wycliffe College, Toronto

Jack Lightstone is at the top of his form as he guides the nonspecialized reader to a grasp of rabbinic literature in its multiple guises. Lightstone utilizes his considerable academic and pedagogical talent to create a lucid and cogent introduction to the complex and often daunting literary creations of the rabbis of late antiquity. In doing so, he contributes to a better, more nuanced comprehension of a crucial era in the history of Judaism.

—Ira Robinson, Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, Concordia University Montréal

Product Details

• Title: In the Seat of Moses: An Introductory Guide to Early Rabbinic Legal Rhetoric and Literary Conventions
• Author: Jack N. Lightstone
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 478
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781532659010, 1532659016
• Resource ID: LLS:STMSSLTRCNVNTNS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-01-05T16:57:48Z

About Jack N. Lightstone

Jack N. Lightstone is a veteran of university administration, having served as the President of Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, from 2006 to 2016. Jack is also an outstanding historian of Roman history and the rise of post-temple Judaism. He is the author of The Commerce of the Sacred (1984, 2006) and The Rhetoric of the Babylonian Talmud (1994). He continues at Brock University as a Professor of History.