Contours of Coherence in Rabbinic Judaism (2 vols)

A three part set of monographs on the coherence of Rabbinic Judaism in its literature: Part one: In the Rabbinic literature of late antiquity disputes and alternative interpretations of a common datum form a medium of expressing coherence. Part two, system over self, asks about the role of individual sayings and traditions. The Bavli imposes on received sayings and stories its forms and topical Halakhic program. Part three: Talmudic knowledge, asks, do the types ands forms of Mishnah-exegesis and Halakhah-analysis of the Bavli make possible a sequential history of the Talmudic knowledge, layer by layer, for example, generation by generation? With adequately classified data in hand, we may describe the generative logic of Talmudic analysis as that exegetical and analytical process unfolding in sequences is signified by the requirements of a pure, atemporal dialectics.

Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Theology at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, and a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard as well. He is also a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, and Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University in England. He has published more than 900 books and unnumbered articles, both scholarly, academic, popular and journalistic, and is the most published humanities scholar in the world.