Power, Ethics, and Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity

Rabbinic Responses to Drought and Disaster

Häftad, Engelska, 2020

AvJulia Watts Belser,Washington DC) Belser, Julia Watts (Georgetown University

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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.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2020-03-26
Mått152 x 229 x 14 mm
Vikt376 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor252
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781107533929

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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.

Introduction; Encountering the Bavli: an introduction for readers new to the Babylonian Talmud; 1. Covenantal ecology and the discourse of natural signs; 2. Reading the natural world: interpretation and meaning in Bavli Taʿanit; 3. Merit in the midst of danger: falling walls, faltering houses, and the power of performative perception; 4. Charisma and ritual fasting for the sake of rain: parrhesia, penitence, and the construction of intimacy before God; 5. Confusing the fathers: charisma and the limits of human power; 6. Hiddenness and holiness: gender, class, concealment, and the critique of rabbinic status-seeking; Conclusion.