Marc Hirshman – författare

In the first five centuries of the common era, in Roman Palestine and Sasanid Persia, a small group of perhaps a couple of thousand Jewish scholars and rabbis were able to secure and sustain a thriving national and educational culture. They procured loyalty to the national language and oversaw the retention of a significant national identity. This accomplishment was unique in the Roman Near East. Few physical artifacts remain to attest to this achievement. But the paucity of physical remains of late antique Jewish learning is in inverse proportion to the scope of the oral teaching, which was committed to writing only in the middle ages. The content of this oral teaching remains the staple of Jewish learning through modern times. Marc Hirshman traces and outlines the ideals and practices of rabbinic learning as presented in the relatively few late antique sources that discuss the processes and ideals of learning in depth . Though oral learning was common in many ancient cultures, the Jewish approach has a different theoretical basis and different aims. Hirshman explores the evolution and institutionalization of Jewish culture in both Babylonian and Palestinian sources. At its core, he argues, the Jewish cultural thrust in the first centuries of the common era was a sustained effort to preserve the language of its culture in its most pristine form. This was done by the rabbis in a very conscious cultural conflict with their surrounding cultures.

Grounded Spirituality: Aspects of Rabbinic Culture in its Late Antique Context examines a series of themes engaged by rabbinic literature, including the primacy of learning, the fading of universalism, the place of love, a unique rhetoric of charity and good deeds, and rabbinic attitudes to philosophy and mysticism. Particularly, it focuses on the formative period of rabbinic religion, from 1-500 C.E., which roughly parallels what classical historians call late antiquity.Each chapter focuses on a central text from the rabbinic corpus drawn from Mishna, Tosefta, Midrash and Talmud. After carefully explicating the text, Marc Hirshman explores the themes emerging from the central text and other --often differing and opposing-- views in rabbinic literature. An exploration of possible influences or polemics with the regnant cultures and religions of the region will be included in most chapters. The book is both a primer for a critical reading of rabbinic texts, as well as an exploration of the development of rabbinic thought and religiosity.In the final chapter, Hirshman explores the implications of the study of classical rabbinic literature of antiquity for contemporary humanities and religion. What lessons are to be learned from rabbinic discourse, and what place should their unique cultural approaches have on the development of religion and the humanities in the twenty-first century?

Drawing on the great progress in Talmudic scholarship over the last century, The Stabilization of Rabbinic Culture is both an introduction to a close reading of rabbinic literature and a demonstration of the development of rabbinic thought on education in the first centuries of the Common Era. In Roman Palestine and Sasanid Persia, a small group of approximately two thousand Jewish scholars and rabbis sustained a thriving national and educational culture. They procured loyalty to the national language and oversaw the retention of a national identity. This accomplishment was unique in the Roman Near East, and few physical artifacts remain. The scope of oral teaching, however, was vast and was committed to writing only in the high Middle Ages. The content of this oral tradition remains the staple of Jewish learning through modern times. Though oral learning was common in many ancient cultures, the Jewish approach has a different theoretical basis and different aims. Marc Hirshman explores the evolution and institutionalization of Jewish culture in both Babylonian and Palestinian sources. At its core, he argues, the Jewish cultural thrust in the first centuries of the Common Era was a sustained effort to preserve the language of its culture in its most pristine form. Hirshman traces and outlines the ideals and practices of rabbinic learning as presented in the relatively few extensive discussions of the subject in late antique rabbinic sources. The Stabilization of Rabbinic Culture is a pioneering attempt to characterize the unique approach to learning developed by the rabbinic leadership in late antiquity.

This volume of essays presents a compelling and comprehensive analysis of the intriguing issue of the gift of the land of Israel and the fate of the Canaanites as presented in diverse biblical sources. Jewish thought has long grappled with the moral and theological implications and challenges of this issue. Innovative interpretive strategies and philosophical reflections were offered, modified, and sometimes rejected over the centuries. Leading contemporary scholars follow these threads of interpretation offered by Jewish thinkers from antiquity to modern times.

This volume of essays presents a compelling and comprehensive analysis of the intriguing issue of the gift of the land of Israel and the fate of the Canaanites as presented in diverse biblical sources. Jewish thought has long grappled with the moral and theological implications and challenges of this issue. Innovative interpretive strategies and philosophical reflections were offered, modified, and sometimes rejected over the centuries. Leading contemporary scholars follow these threads of interpretation offered by Jewish thinkers from antiquity to modern times.

Compares Rabbinic midrash and Patristic exegesis in late antiquity and provides an introduction to the various forms of Patristic literature.By comparing interpretations of the Hebrew Bible by Jews, Christians, and Gnostics in Late Antiquity, this book provides a unique perspective on these religious movements in Palestine. Rival interpretations of the early Church and the Midrash are set against the backdrop of the pagan critique of these religions and the gnostic threat that grew within both Christianity and Judaism. The comparison of the exegetical works of Christianity and Judaism illuminates the later development of the two religions and offers fresh insight into the Bible itself.