Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals
Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion

Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals

The Talmud After the Humanities

    • $74.99
    • $74.99

Publisher Description

In Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals, Mira Beth Wasserman undertakes a close reading of Avoda Zara, arguably the Talmud's most scandalous tractate, to uncover the hidden architecture of this classic work of Jewish religious thought. She proposes a new way of reading the Talmud that brings it into conversation with the humanities, including animal studies, the new materialisms, and other areas of critical theory that have been reshaping the understanding of what it is to be a human being.

Even as it comments on the the rabbinic laws that govern relations between Jews and non-Jews, Avoda Zara is also an attempt to reflect on what all people share in common, and on how humans fit into a larger universe of animals and things. As is typical of the Talmud in general, it proceeds by incorporating a vast and confusing array of apparently digressive materials, but Wasserman demonstrates that there is a whole greater than the sum of the parts, a sustained effort to explore human identity and difference.

In centuries past, Avoda Zara has been a flashpoint in Jewish-Christian relations. It was partly due to its content that the Talmud was subject to burning and censorship by Christian authorities. Wasserman develops a twenty-first-century reading of the tractate that aims to reposition it as part of a broader quest to understand what connects human beings to each other and to the world around them.

GENRE
Religion & Spirituality
RELEASED
2017
April 21
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
328
Pages
PUBLISHER
University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
SELLER
Perseus Books, LLC
SIZE
6.6
MB

More Books Like This

Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews
2014
Judeans and Jews Judeans and Jews
2014
The Sage in Jewish Society of Late Antiquity The Sage in Jewish Society of Late Antiquity
2002
A Companion to Late Ancient Jews and Judaism A Companion to Late Ancient Jews and Judaism
2020
Jewish Religious and Philosophical Ethics Jewish Religious and Philosophical Ethics
2017
Antonio’s Devils Antonio’s Devils
2004

More Books by Mira Beth Wasserman

Other Books in This Series

The Invention of Peter The Invention of Peter
2013
Christianity, Empire, and the Making of Religion in Late Antiquity Christianity, Empire, and the Making of Religion in Late Antiquity
2013
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
2017
Spectacles of Empire Spectacles of Empire
2013
The Return of the Absent Father The Return of the Absent Father
2022
Imitations of Infinity Imitations of Infinity
2021