Bernard M. Levinson's Books

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

By: Bernard M. Levinson

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Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

By: Bernard M. Levinson

Positioned at the boundary of traditional biblical studies, legal history, and literary theory, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation shows how the legislation of Deuteronomy reflects the struggle of its authors to renew late seventh- century Judean society. Seeking to defend their revolutionary vision during the neo-Assyrian crisis, the reformers turned to earlier laws, even when they disagreed with them, and revised them in such a way as to lend authority to their new understanding of God's will. Passages that other scholars have long viewed as redundant, contradictory, or displaced actually reflect the attempt by Deuteronomy's authors to sanction their new religious aims before the legacy of the past. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern law and informed by the rich insights of classical and medieval Jewish commentary, Levinson provides an extended study of three key passages in the legal corpus: the unprecedented requirement for the centralization of worship, the law transforming the old Passover into a pilgrimage festival, and the unit replacing traditional village justice with a professionalized judiciary. He demonstrates the profound impact of centralization upon the structure and arrangement of the legal corpus, while providing a theoretical analysis of religious change and cultural renewal in ancient Israel. The book's conclusion shows how the techniques of authorship developed in Deuteronomy provided a model for later Israelite and post- biblical literature. Integrating the most recent European research on the redaction of Deuteronomy with current American and Israeli scholarship, Levinson argues that biblical interpretation must attend to both the diachronic and the synchronic dimensions of the text. His study, which provides a new perspective on intertextuality, the history of authorship, and techniques of legal innovation in the ancient world, will engage pentateuchal critics and historians of Israelite religion, while reaching out toward current issues in literary theory and Critical Legal Studies.

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Page Count

220

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195152883

ISBN 13

9780195152883

Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East

By: Victor H. Matthews,Tikva Frymer-Kensky,Bernard M. Levinson

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Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East

By: Victor H. Matthews,Tikva Frymer-Kensky,Bernard M. Levinson

This striking new contribution to gender studies demonstrates the essential role of Israelite and Near East law in the historical analysis of gender. The theme of these studies of Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian, and Israelite law is this: What is the significance of gender in the formulation of ancient law and custom? Feminist scholarship is enriched by these studies in family history and the status of women in antiquity. At the same time, conventional legal history is repositioned, as new and classical texts are interpreted from the vantage point of feminist theory and social history. Papers from SBL Biblical Law Section form the core of this collection.

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Page Count

257

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0567620948

ISBN 13

9780567620941

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

By: Bernard M. Levinson

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Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

By: Bernard M. Levinson

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Page Count

220

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195152883

ISBN 13

9780195152883

A More Perfect Torah

At the Intersection of Philology and Hermeneutics in Deuteronomy and the Temple Scroll

By: Bernard M. Levinson

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A More Perfect Torah

At the Intersection of Philology and Hermeneutics in Deuteronomy and the Temple Scroll

By: Bernard M. Levinson

The historical-critical method that characterizes academic biblical studies too often remains separate from approaches that stress the history of interpretation, which are employed more frequently in the area of Second Temple or Dead Sea Scrolls research. Inaugurating the new series, Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible, A More Perfect Torah explores a series of test-cases in which the two methods mutually reinforce one another. The volume brings together two studies that investigate the relationship between the composition history of the biblical text and its reception history at Qumran and in rabbinic literature. The Temple Scroll is more than the blueprint for a more perfect Temple. It also represents the attempt to create a more perfect Torah. Its techniques for doing so are the focus of part 1, entitled “Revelation Regained: The Hermeneutics of KI and ‘IM in the Temple Scroll.” This study illuminates the techniques for marking conditional clauses in ancient Near Eastern literature, biblical law, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It also draws new attention to the relationship between the Temple Scroll’s use of conditionals and the manuscript’s organized spacing system for marking paragraphs. Part 2 is entitled “Reception History as a Window into Composition History: Deuteronomy’s Law of Vows as Reflected in Qoheleth and the Temple Scroll.” The law of vows in Deut 23:22–24 is difficult in both its syntax and its legal content. The difficulty is resolved once it is recognized that the law contains an interpolation that disrupts the original coherence of the law. The reception history of the law of vows in Numbers 20, Qoh 5:4–7, 11QTemple 53:11–14, and Sipre Deuteronomy confirms the hypothesis of an interpolation. Seen in this new light, the history of interpretation offers a window into the composition history of the biblical text.

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Page Count

163

Publisher

Penn State Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1575068532

ISBN 13

9781575068534

"The Right Chorale"

By: Bernard Malcolm Levinson

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"The Right Chorale"

By: Bernard Malcolm Levinson

Revised versions of 12 essays previously published in various sources.

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Page Count

472

Publisher

Mohr Siebeck

Published Date

ISBN 10

3161493826

ISBN 13

9783161493829

A More Perfect Torah

At the Intersection of Philology and Hermeneutics in Deuteronomy and the Temple Scroll

By: Bernard M. Levinson

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A More Perfect Torah

At the Intersection of Philology and Hermeneutics in Deuteronomy and the Temple Scroll

By: Bernard M. Levinson

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N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

163

Publisher

Penn State Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1575068532

ISBN 13

9781575068534

Book's by Bernard M. Levinson

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East

Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

A More Perfect Torah

A More Perfect Torah

"The Right Chorale"

"The Right Chorale"

A More Perfect Torah

A More Perfect Torah

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