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Power, Ethics, and Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity: Rabbinic Responses to Drought and Disaster
Contributor(s): Belser, Julia Watts (Author)
ISBN: 1107113350     ISBN-13: 9781107113350
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
OUR PRICE:   $114.00  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: August 2015
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Religion | Judaism - Talmud
Dewey: 296.125
LCCN: 2015014689
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.2" W x 9" (1.10 lbs) 252 pages
Themes:
- Religious Orientation - Jewish
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
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.

Contributor Bio(s): Belser, Julia Watts: - Julia Watts Belser is Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University, Washington DC. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals, including the AJS Review, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, and the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics.