Changing Amoraic Attitudes Toward the Authority and Statements of Rav and Shmuel: A Study of the Talmud as a Historical Source
In the present article, I attempt to describe evidence of changing attitudes toward the authority and statements of Rav and Shmuel, prominent firstgeneration Babylonian Amoraim. I argue that later Amoraim respond differently than do early Amoraim to the statements and authority of Rav and Shmuel. I...
| Published in: | Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
College
1992
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
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| RelBib Classification: | BH Judaism |
| Further subjects: | B
Talmud
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| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | In the present article, I attempt to describe evidence of changing attitudes toward the authority and statements of Rav and Shmuel, prominent firstgeneration Babylonian Amoraim. I argue that later Amoraim respond differently than do early Amoraim to the statements and authority of Rav and Shmuel. I argue that several of these difference attest to actual changes in Amoraic attitudes rather than to creations by later editors. I also examine whether these differences are explicable as evidence of changes in the type of literature considered worthy of preservation for posterity. According to this explanation, Amoraic attitudes toward Rav and Shmuel appear to change because later Amoraim choose not to preserve certain kinds of statements authored in their own day, statements which earlier Amoraim consider worthy of preservation. In actuality, however (according to this explanation), attitudes toward Rav and Shmuel remain the same. The bulk of the evidence, I argue, is poorly suited to literary explanation and is more easily accounted for on historical grounds. Nevertheless, historians must pay attention to literary factors in accounting for changes in Talmudic discourse. In some cases, changes in Amoraic literature which at first glance appear to reflect historical developments are just as easily explicable on literary grounds. |
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| ISSN: | 0360-9049 |
| Contains: | In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
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