Power, ethics, and ecology in Jewish late antiquity: rabbinic responses to drought and disaster

Rabbinic tales of drought, disaster, and charismatic holy men illuminate critical questions about power, ethics, and ecology in Jewish late antiquity. Through a sustained reading of the Babylonian Talmud's tractate on fasts in response to drought, this book shows how Bavli Taʿanit challenges De...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:Power, Ethics, & Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity
Main Author: Belser, Julia Watts (Author)
Format: Electronic Book
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2015.
In:Year: 2015
Reviews:Power, Ethics, and Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity. Rabbinic Responses to Drought and Disaster (2017) (Hezser, Catherine, 1960 -)
Further subjects:B Rain in rabbinical literature
B Rabbinical literature History and criticism
B Droughts in rabbinical literature
B Rabbinical literature ; History and criticism
B Disasters in rabbinical literature
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Erscheint auch als: 9781107113350
Description
Summary:Rabbinic tales of drought, disaster, and charismatic holy men illuminate critical questions about power, ethics, and ecology in Jewish late antiquity. Through a sustained reading of the Babylonian Talmud's tractate on fasts in response to drought, this book shows how Bavli Taʿanit challenges Deuteronomy's claim that virtue can assure abundance and that misfortune is an unambiguous sign of divine rebuke. Employing a new method for analyzing lengthy talmudic narratives, Julia Watts Belser traces complex strands of aggadic dialectic to show how Bavli Taʿanit's redactors articulate a strikingly self-critical theological and ethical discourse. Bavli Taʿanit castigates rabbis for misuse of power, exposing the limits of their perception and critiquing prevailing obsessions with social status. But it also celebrates the possibilities of performative perception - the power of an adroit interpreter to transform events in the world and interpret crisis in a way that draws forth blessing.
Item Description:Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
ISBN:1316286320
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781316286326