Heresy and the formation of the Rabbinic Community /David M. Grossberg.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Publisher's description: Between the first and sixth centuries C.E., a community of rabbis systematized their ideas about Judaism in works such as the Mishnah and the Talmud. David M. Grossberg reexamines this community's gradual formation as reflected in polemical texts. He contends that these texts' primary aim was not to describe real rabbinic opponents but to create and enforce boundaries between rabbis and others and within the developing rabbinic movement.

Introduction : The formation of the rabbinic community -- I. Yavneh and the myth of origins -- II. The sage idea and the development of a collective -- III. Heresy and the formation of community -- IV. A note on style and method -- Chapter 1 : The meaning and end of heresy in rabbinic literature -- I. Heresy in rabbinic literature? -- II. Heresy as a category -- III. Heresy as hairesis -- IV. Heresy as heresiological discourse -- V. Heresy and boundary rhetoric in the ancient world -- Chapter 2 : Varieties of minim in the second temple and rabbinic period -- I. Heresy and minut -- II. Minim as insiders in the late second temple and early rabbinic periods -- III. Minim as hybrids in the early Christian period -- IV. Minim as outsiders in the late rabbinic period -- Chapter 3 : Co-opting the sinners of Israel -- I. The sinners of Israel and the sinners of the nations of the world -- II. Sinners, pomegranates, and good deeds -- III. An Israelite who sins -- IV. All Israel have a portion in the world to come -- Chapter 4 : Meshummadim who provoke the rabbis -- I. Meshummadim, apostates, and "the time of persecutions" -- II. Flagrant meshummadim -- III. Meshummadim from appetite and to provoke -- IV. Provoking the Torah and the rabbis -- Chapter 5 : Apiqorsim who disrespect the rabbis -- I. Epicureans, Sadducees, and divine providence -- II. Disrespecting the rabbis -- III. Apiqorsim and irreverence -- IV. Apiqorsim, minim, and dangerous verses -- V. Know how to avoid an apiqoros -- Chapter 6 : Two powers and the ascent of Rabbi Elisha -- I. Elisha ben Abuyah as an absolute other -- II. Elisha ben Abuyah as a failed rabbi -- III. Elisha's ascent and divine multiplicity -- IV. Metatron's transgression and heavenly proscriptions -- V. Elisha's transgression and the heavenly voice -- Chapter 7 : The failed rabbi and those who cause the public to sin -- I. The mechanics of atonement in rabbinic tradition -- II. Gehazi as a failed rabbi -- III. The failed rabbi in the Babylonian Talmud -- Conclusion: Boundary rhetoric, community formation, and rabbinic Judaism -- Appendix : Synoptic presentation of born Hagigah 15a and 3 Enoch for Chapter Six -- Bibliography -- Index of primary sources -- I. Hebrew Bible -- II. Second temple period Jewish literature -- III. New Testament -- IV. Rabbinic literature; Mishnah; Tannaitic Midrash; Palestinian Talmud; Classical Palestinian Midrash; Later Midrash -- V. Greco-Roman and early Christian literature -- VI. Hekhalot and medieval Jewish literature -- Index of modern authors -- Index of subjects.

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