E-Book Overview
The book provides in depth studies of two epistemological aspects of Jewish Law (Halakhah) as the ‘Word of God’ – the question of legal reasoning and the problem of knowing and remembering.- How different are the epistemological concerns of religious-law in comparison to other legal systems?- In what ways are jurisprudential attitudes prescribed and dependent on theological presumptions?- What specifies legal reasoning and legal knowledge in a religious framework?
The author outlines the rabbinic jurisprudential thought rooted in Talmudic literature which underwent systemization and enhancement by the Babylonian Geonim and the Andalusian Rabbis up until the twelfth century. The book develops a synoptic view on the growth of rabbinic legal thought against the background of Christian theological motifs on the one hand and Karaite and Islamic systemized jurisprudence on the other hand. It advances a perspective of legal-theology that combines analysis of jurisprudential reflections and theological views within a broad historical and intellectual framework.
The book advocates two approaches to the study of the legal history of the Halakhah: comparative jurisprudence and legal-theology, based on the understanding that jurisprudence and theology are indispensable and inseparable pillars of legal praxis.
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Studies in the History of Law and Justice Volume 2 Series Editors Mortimer Sellers University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Georges Martyn University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium The purpose of this book series is to publish high quality volumes on the history of law and justice. Legal history can be a deeply provocative and influential field, as illustrated by the growth of the European universities and the ius commune, the French Revolution, the American Revolution, and indeed all the great movements for national liberation through law. The study of history gives scholars and reformers the models and courage to question entrenched injustices, by demonstrating the contingency of law and other social arrangements. Yet legal history today finds itself diminished in the universities and legal academy. Too often scholarship betrays no knowledge of what went before, or why legal institutions took the shape that they did. This series seeks to remedy that deficiency. Studies in the History of Law and Justice will be theoretical and reflective. Volumes will address the history of law and justice from a critical and comparative viewpoint. The studies in this series will be strong bold narratives of the development of law and justice. Some will be suitable for a very broad readership. Contributions to this series will come from scholars on every continent and in every legal system. Volumes will promote international comparisons and dialogue. The purpose will be to provide the next generation of lawyers with the models and narratives needed to understand and improve the law and justice of their own era. The series includes monographs focusing on a specific topic, as well as collections of articles covering a theme or collections of article by one author. Editorial Board António Pedro Barbas Homem, Universidade de Lisboa Emanuele Conte, Università degli Studi Roma Tre Gigliola di Renzo Villata, Università degli Studi di Milano Markus Dick Dubber, University of Toronto William Ewald, University of Pennsylvania Law School Igor Filippov, Moscow State University Amalia Kessler, Stanford University Mia Korpiola, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies Aniceto Masferrer, Universidad de Valencia Yasutomo Morigiwa, Nagoya University Graduate School of Law Ulrike Mussig, Universität Passau Sylvain Soleil, Université de Rennes James Q. Whitman, Yale Law School More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11794 Joseph E. Davi