Saints or Sinners, Scholars or Ignoramuses?: Stories About the Rabbis as Evidence for the Composite Nature of the Babylonian Talmud
As Jacob Neusner and others have argued, before talmudic stories can be evaluated as historical evidence we must ask who the original authors were, what were their motives, and who was their intended audience. Even once we obtain the “original” version of a story, we do not necessarily have access t...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
University of Pennsylvania Press
1990
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In: |
AJS review
Year: 1990, Volume: 15, Issue: 2, Pages: 179-205 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | As Jacob Neusner and others have argued, before talmudic stories can be evaluated as historical evidence we must ask who the original authors were, what were their motives, and who was their intended audience. Even once we obtain the “original” version of a story, we do not necessarily have access to the historical event which gave rise to the story. For perhaps accounts of the historical event have been colored, even distorted beyond recognition, by the needs, desires, and beliefs of the original authors. Or perhaps the stories they transmit are fabrications, invented by students or later editors with a particular goal in mind. |
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ISSN: | 1475-4541 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Association for Jewish Studies, AJS review
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0364009400002944 |