In a career spanning over fifty years, the questions Jacob Neusner has asked and the critical methodologies he has developed have shaped the way scholars have come to approach the rabbinic literature as well as the diverse manifestations of Judaism from rabbinic times until the present. The essays collected here honor that legacy, illustrating an influence that is so pervasive that scholars today who engage in the critical study of Judaism and the history of religions more generally work in a laboratory that Professor Neusner created. Addressing topics in ancient and Rabbinic Judaism, the Judaic context of early Christianity, American Judaism, World Religions, and the academic study of the humanities, these essays demarcate the current state of Judaic and religious studies in the academy today.

While Jews in the land of Israel in ancient times shared much in common - scripture, reverence for the Temple and its cult, some traits as one 'Orthodox' Judaism. Diverse 'Judaisms' flourished, each with its particular way of life, world view, and definition of the social entity, or 'Israel'. Because there was no single, unitary Judaism, there also was no one 'Messiah-idea' or 'Messianic doctrine'. Various readings of the Messiah-theme reached definition in the various, unrelated religious systems or Judaisms produced by those Jews - hence 'Judaisms' and 'their Messiahs'. In this book, distinguished specialists in various Judaisms of late antiquity, including Christian scholars, take up the differing roles of the Messiah-idea in the various traditions examined. Dealing with the best-documented Judaic systems - the Essene community at Qumran, Christian Judaisms represented by Mark and by Matthew, the nascent rabbinic Judaism portrayed in the Mishnah, the Judaic system implicit in the writings of Philo - the authors work out how a given system treats the Messiah theme. Some systems - Philo's and the Mishnah's - find the theme important. Others place it at the center of their systems and treat the Messiah as the purpose and goal of their respective Judaisms, their expectations varying from a political-military figure to an eschatological diety. In its approach to evidence, not harmonizing but analyzing and differentiating, this book marks a revolutionary shift in the study of ancient Judaism and Christianity.

While Jews in the land of Israel in ancient times shared much in common - scripture, reverence for the Temple and its cult, some traits as one 'Orthodox' Judaism. Diverse 'Judaisms' flourished, each with its particular way of life, world view, and definition of the social entity, or 'Israel'. Because there was no single, unitary Judaism, there also was no one 'Messiah-idea' or 'Messianic doctrine'. Various readings of the Messiah-theme reached definition in the various, unrelated religious systems or Judaisms produced by those Jews - hence 'Judaisms' and 'their Messiahs'. In this book, distinguished specialists in various Judaisms of late antiquity, including Christian scholars, take up the differing roles of the Messiah-idea in the various traditions examined. Dealing with the best-documented Judaic systems - the Essene community at Qumran, Christian Judaisms represented by Mark and by Matthew, the nascent rabbinic Judaism portrayed in the Mishnah, the Judaic system implicit in the writings of Philo - the authors work out how a given system treats the Messiah theme. Some systems - Philo's and the Mishnah's - find the theme important. Others place it at the center of their systems and treat the Messiah as the purpose and goal of their respective Judaisms, their expectations varying from a political-military figure to an eschatological diety. In its approach to evidence, not harmonizing but analyzing and differentiating, this book marks a revolutionary shift in the study of ancient Judaism and Christianity.

In this companion to the best-selling World Religions in America: An Introduction, renowned contributors explore the importance of religion in the lives of people, communities, and nations. Their concern is not with particular doctrines within the various religious traditions, but with how real people live these traditions today and the impact this has on the larger social order.

The Golden Rule-'do to others as you would have them do to you', 'what is hateful to you to your fellow don't do', to take the two most familiar formulations-defines a meeting place for many fields of learning. There the study of comparative religion, philosophy and ethics, anthropology and sociology, and the whole range of cross-cultural studies carried on in the social sciences and the humanities intersect. That hardly presents a surprise, since the Golden Rule finds a place in most religions and is universally acknowledged to form a part of the shared heritage of human wisdom. But if it is one thing on which religions concur, that does not mean the Golden Rule is simple or self-evident. Its ubiquity presents us with tough questions of context and difficult problems of content. Both the Golden Rule itself and how it attests to the human condition demand study. Defining the rule and explaining its universality in religion and culture require attention. The role of the Golden Rule in various systems of thought, both religious and philosophical, invites study. How the logic of a given system interprets the Golden Rule demands analysis. Objective data deriving from empirical study of nature and society deserve close examination. Specialists in a wide range of disciplines have a contribution to make out of their particular disciplines and areas of expert knowledge.