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The Intellectual Foundations of Christian and Jewish Discourse argues that the Judaic and Christian heirs of Scripture adopted, and adapted to their own purposes and tasks, Greek philosophical modes of thought and argument. The authors explore how the earliest intellectuals of Christianity and Judaism shaped a tradition of articulated conflict and reasoned argument in the search for religious truth that was to be shared through continuing that argument with others.Neusner and Chilton examine, using the formative sources of Judaism and Christianity, the literary media of adaptation and reform: precisely where and how we identify in the foundation writings of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism the new opposing modes of articulated conflict and reasoned argument that through Christianity and Judaism, Greek philosophy and science bequeathed to the West.
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THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH DISCOURSE
The Intellectual Foundations of Christian and Jewish Discourse argues that Judaic and Christian heirs of Scripture adopted, and adapted to their own purposes and tasks, Greek philosophical modes of thought and argument, and explores how the earliest intellectuals of Christianity and Judaism shaped a tradition of articulated conflict and reasoned argument in the search for religious truth that was to be shared through continuing that argument with others. Professors Neusner and Chilton examine, using the formative sources of Judaism and Christianity, the literary media of adaptation and reform: precisely where and how do we identify in the foundation writings of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism the new opposing modes of articulated conflict and reasoned argument that through Christianity and Judaism, Greek philosophy and science bequeathed to the West? This provocative volume provides a unique and controversial analysis of the genesis and evolution of Judaeo-Christian intellectual thought as being informed by the appropriation of Greek philosophy and science and identifies the modes of discourse in the Judaic and Christian intellectual and literary traditions. Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Research Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida and Professor of Religion at Bard College, New York. Bruce Chilton is Bernard Idding Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, New York.
OTHER TITLES AVAILABLE FROM ROUTLEDGE JUDAISM IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Practices and Beliefs Bruce Chilton and Jacob Neusner
THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH DISCOURSE The philosophy of religious argument
Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton
London and New York
First published 1997 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001. © 1997 Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Neusner, Jacob, 1932– The intellectual foundations of Christian and Jewish discourse : the philosophy of religious argument / Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton. p. cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Talmud—Hermeneutics. 2. Jewish law—Interpretation and construction. 3. Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 4. Theology— Methodology—History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30–600. 5. Midrash— History and critic