The Rhetoric of the Babylonian Talmud, Its Social Meaning and Context (Studies in Christianity and Judaism 6)

THE RHETORIC OF THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD, ITS SOCIAL MEANING AND CONTEXT......Page 4
Contents......Page 8
Charts......Page 9
Preface......Page 10
Abbreviations and Editions......Page 14
1 Introduction......Page 16
The broad framework and overall agenda......Page 17
Methodological and conceptual problems: From historical and literary analysis to social science......Page 19
Methodological and theoretical underpinnings......Page 21
The context of modern scholarship on the Babylonian Talmud......Page 27
Previewing the conclusions......Page 33
2 Bavli's Structural Formularies......Page 40
The redactional plan and structural formularies of b. AZ 14b-16a......Page 59
3 Bavli's Structural Formularies in Comparative Relief......Page 64
Summary and interim conclusions......Page 89
4 Bavli's Dialectical Formularies......Page 92
Babylonian Talmud, Bekorot 2a-3b......Page 93
Babylonian Talmud, Bekorot 3b-5b......Page 117
Dialectical formularies in the Babylonian Talmud: B. Bek. 2a-3b and 3b-5b......Page 137
1. Attributional formulae/ (contrived) debates......Page 140
2. Conjectural analytic/ argument-statements......Page 149
3. Associative argument-statements......Page 153
4. Deduction from stated reason/condition (if/since/because ..., [then] ...)......Page 162
5. Offering a reason for a previously stated view......Page 163
7. Assigning a referent to a source's seemingly superfluous datum......Page 166
8. Specification of information implicit in an authoritative source......Page 169
9. Citing a scriptural verse as a prooftext supporting an antecedent position......Page 175
10. Referring to the content of an authoritative source......Page 178
11. Differentiating the application or referent of a previously stated opinion......Page 179
12. Juxtaposing declarative sentences within an analytic argumentative context created by structural formularies......Page 180
13. Narrative structures......Page 183
Dialectical formularies in the Bavli: An interim synthesis of the data......Page 185
5 Bavli's Dialectical Formularies in Comparative Relief......Page 188
Points of comparison in Mishnah......Page 189
Points of Comparison in Tosefta......Page 204
Points of comparison in Sifre on Numbers......Page 230
Points of comparison in Yerushalmi......Page 250
Rehearsing the initial problematic and agenda......Page 262
The Bavli's rhetorical language: A summary......Page 265
The social meaning of the Bavli's rhetoric in context......Page 267
From Mishnah's priestly scribe to Bavli's scholastic philosopher......Page 268
The organization and structure of rabbinic academies in Saboraic and early Geonic Babylonia......Page 279
The larger social and political context of Babylonian Rabbinism: 475-652 CE......Page 287
Talmud rhetoric and redaction in their larger social, political and cultural context......Page 291
APPENDIX A: A Comparative Analysis of the Distribution of Selected Structural Formulae in Nine Tractates of the Bavli......Page 298
Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 14b-16a......Page 302
Babylonian Talmud, Bekorot 2a-5b......Page 304
References and Selected Bibliography......Page 312
Index......Page 324
Back Matter......Page 333