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Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture in the Mishnah

Alexander Samely author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:10th Jan '02

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Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture in the Mishnah cover

In this book Dr Samely offers a systematic and detailed description of early rabbinic hermeneutics (midrash) as it can be reconstructed from the Mishnah (third century CE). The argument is based on a survey of all passages of biblical interpretation in this largely legal document. Dr Samely describes how the discourse of the rabbis appropriates Scripture while taking precise account of its wording. He clarifies the conditions of a modern appreciation of rabbinic hermeneutics and provides a unified set of concepts for its precise description, based on modern linguistics and philosophy of language. Basic features of rabbinic hermeneutics and its difference from modern historical reading are explained, and a catalogue of recurrent techniques of interpretation is defined. This catalogue lays new foundations for the analysis of rabbinic documents and the comparison with other hermeneutic traditions. Each technique is explained and illustrated with translations from the Mishnah. The book provides a manual of all techniques in systematic order and a comprehensive list of Mishnaic passages of interpretation together with their hermeneutic techniques.

The book is a very comprehensive tool ... [it] offers an unprecedented systematic approach to rabbinic hermeneutics. The Introduction to the book is a very fine, beautifully written, methodological essay in which Samely touches upon some of the most important questions and pitfalls in rabbinic studies ... all subsequent discussion of rabbinic hermeneutics will have to account for this major work. * Journal of Semitic Studies *
This is quite the most important contribution towards an understanding of the Mishnah's interpretative strategies to have appeared in recent years; and as Samely points out, its method might be usefully adopted in other fields of hermeneutical endeavour. * Journal for the Study of the Old Testament *
Samely's precise description of the Mishnah's hermeneutic strategies constitutes a major advance in the study of rabbinic literature in general and the Mishnah in particular. * Journal of Jewish Studies *

ISBN: 9780198270317

Dimensions: 224mm x 148mm x 30mm

Weight: 680g

496 pages