Judaism and Story: The Evidence of the Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan
Overview
In this close analysis of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, Jacob Neusner considers the way in which the story entered the canonical writings of Judaism. The final installment in Neusner’s analysis of major texts of the Judaic canon, Judaism and Story shows that stories about sages exist in far greater proportion in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan than in any of the other principal writings in the canon of Judaism. Neusner’s detailed comparison of The Fathers and The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan demonstrates the transmission and elaboration of these stories and shows how these processes incorporated the newer view of the sage as a supernatural figure and of the eschatological character of Judaic teleology. These distinctions, as Neusner describes them, mark a shift in Jewish orientation to world history. As Neusner demonstrates, this experiment with narrative went beyond argumentation focused on the explication of the Torah. The sage story moved in the direction of biography, but without allowing biography to emerge. This development, in Neusner’s account, parallels the movement from epistle to Gospel in early Christianity and thus has broad implications for the history of religions.
- Title: Judaism and Story: The Evidence of the Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan
- Author: Jacob Neusner
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Print Publication Date: 2003
- Logos Release Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Talmud › Minor tractates--Avot de-Rabbi Nathan--Biography; Talmud › Minor tractates--Avot de-Rabbi Nathan--Legends
- ISBNs: 9781592443598, 1592443591
- Resource ID: LLS:JUDAISMANDSTORY
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:59:25Z
Jacob Neusner (1932–2016) was a preeminent scholar of ancient Judaism and one of the most published authors ever, with more than 900 original volumes to his name. He was educated at Harvard University, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the University of Oxford, and Yale University. He was research professor of theology and senior fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. Neusner’s work has been highly influential, if sometimes controversial. He pioneered applying “form criticism” to Rabbinic texts, and aimed at a humanistic and academic reading of ancient Jewish literature.
Neusner’s works include the Jacob Neusner Jewish Studies Bundle (99 vols.).