On the Reliability of Attributions in the Babylonian Talmud
Historical scholarship of classical Babylonian Jewry has credulously assumed the accuracy of attributions in its primary source of evidence — the Babylonian Talmud. Jacob Neusner has properly criticized such methodological complacency, and consequently has insisted that we have access only to the Ju...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
1990
|
| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1989, Volume: 60, Pages: 175-190 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Historical scholarship of classical Babylonian Jewry has credulously assumed the accuracy of attributions in its primary source of evidence — the Babylonian Talmud. Jacob Neusner has properly criticized such methodological complacency, and consequently has insisted that we have access only to the Judaism attested in the final document. But Neusner himself has suggested a variety of tests by which attributed traditions could be verified, and despite his assumption that given the nature of the evidence, such tests have nothing to yield, two of the tests will, in fact, serve to verify traditions recorded in the Bavli. First, because the Yerushalmi and the Bavli may be spoken of as being "external" to (that is, independent of) one another, commonly attested traditions may be assumed to have emerged from the circle of disciples of the sage or sages with whom they are associated. Second, because traditions of different generations of sages in the Bavli are distinguished by characteristic and "superficial" literary features, these traditions may be assumed to have taken their present form within a relatively brief period after the generation to which they are attributed. Thus, histories, though not biographies, based upon this material may indeed be written. |
|---|---|
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
|