This volume guides beginning students of rabbinic literature to the range of historical-interpretive and culture-critical issues that contemporary scholars use when studying the rabbinic texts of late antiquity. The editors, themselves well-known interpreters of rabbinic literature, have gathered an international collection of scholars to support students' initial steps in confronting the enormous and complex rabbinic corpus. Unlike other introductions to rabbinic writings, the present volume includes approaches shaped by anthropology, gender studies, oral-traditional studies, classics, and folklore studies.

The second edition of Jews, Christians, Muslims: A Comparative Introduction to Monotheistic Religions, compares Judaism, Christianity, and Islam using seven common themes which are equally relevant to each tradition. Provoking critical thinking, this text addresses the cultural framework of religious meanings and explores the similarities and differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as it explains the ongoing process of interpretation in each religion. The book is designed for courses in Western and World Religions.

The classical Rabbinic tradition (legal, discursive, and exegetical) claims to be Oral Torah, transmitted by word of mouth in an unbroken chain deriving its authority ultimately from diving revelation to Moses at Sinai. Since the third century CE, however, this tradition has been embodied in written texts. Through judicious deployment and analysis of the evidence, Martin Jaffee is able to show that the Rabbinic tradition, as we have it, developed through a mutual interpretation of oral and written modes.

The second edition of Jews, Christians, Muslims: A Comparative Introduction to Monotheistic Religions, compares Judaism, Christianity, and Islam using seven common themes which are equally relevant to each tradition. Provoking critical thinking, this text addresses the cultural framework of religious meanings and explores the similarities and differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as it explains the ongoing process of interpretation in each religion. The book is designed for courses in Western and World Religions.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Scripture and Tradition; Chapter 1 Scripture and Tradition in Judaism; Chapter 2 Scripture and Tradition in Christianity; Chapter 3 Scripture and Tradition in Islam; Part 2 Monotheism; Chapter 4 Monotheism in Judaism; Chapter 5 Monotheism in Christianity; Chapter 6 Monotheism in Islam; Part 3 Authority; Chapter 7 Authority in Judaism; Chapter 8 Authority in Christianity; Chapter 9 Authority in Islam; Part 4 Worship and Ritual; Chapter 10 Worship and Ritual in Judaism; Chapter 11 Worship and Ritual in Christianity; Chapter 12 Worship and Ritual in Islam; Part 5 Ethics; Chapter 13 Ethics in Judaism; Chapter 14 Ethics in Christianity; Chapter 15 Ethics in Islam; Part 6 Material Culture; Chapter 16 Material Culture in Judaism; Chapter 17 Material Culture in Christianity; Chapter 18 Material Culture in Islam; Part 7 Religion and the Political Order; Chapter 19 Religion and the Political Order in Judaism; Chapter 20 Religion and the Political Order in Christianity; Chapter 21 Religion and the Political Order in Islam;

Explore what it means to be Jewish in contemporary America with a collection of columns by Professor Martin S. Jaffee, which first appeared in Seattle's "JTNews: The Voice of Jewish Washington."

From his early days as a boy in suburban Long Island, Jaffee's Jewish radar has served him faithfully. He's always been able to spot a fellow Jew from a mile away, and his faith has helped him through many tough times.

It's time to laugh along with the professor as he makes humorous observations and also considers more serious issues such as faith, tradition and family. In this volume you'll read essays about:

● Jewish radar in the post-ethnic Twilight Zone;
● Groucho's paradox;
● Experiments in popular Jewish mythology;
● The hardest Jewish conversation;
● And much more

Jaffee's column "A View From the U," is a fan favorite for Jews throughout the Pacific Northwest and was recognized in 2007 by the Jewish Press Association of America with the Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Journalism. Now, everyone can experience his wit and insights in "The End of Jewish Radar."

Appropriate for courses in Western and World Religions.

This book compares Judaism, Christianity, and Islam using seven common themes, which are equally relevant to each tradition. Provoking critical thinking, this text addresses the cultural framework of religious meanings. It explores similarities and differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as it explains the ongoing process of interpretation in each religion.

This volume guides beginning students of rabbinic literature to the range of historical-interpretive and culture-critical issues that contemporary scholars use when studying the rabbinic texts of late antiquity. The editors, themselves well-known interpreters of rabbinic literature, have gathered an international collection of scholars to support students' initial steps in confronting the enormous and complex rabbinic corpus. Unlike other introductions to rabbinic writings, the present volume includes approaches shaped by anthropology, gender studies, oral-traditional studies, classics, and folklore studies.

This book illustrates the range of theoretical and practical issues involved in defining Judaism for the purposes of comparative and historical studies. The editor holds that sound definitions of religious traditions in general emerge from complex dialogues between "insiders," who define themselves vis a vis "outsiders," and "outsiders," who theorize and generalize about the self-definitions of "insiders." Accordingly, the texts anthologized here include examples of Jewish voices articulating their own "native" self-understanding as well as academic interpretive discourses proposing to place these self-understandings within historical, anthropogical, or phenomenological frameworks.