Rabbinic Categories: Construction and Comparison

A systematic study of the canonical construction of Rabbinic categories, Halakhic, then Aggadic, followed by a comparison of the theological category-formations in Rabbinic Judaism, generative vs. inert, primary vs. subordinate. The book provides a systematic and thorough account of the rules of making connections and drawing conclusions that govern in classes of documents, for the Halakhah from the Mishnah through the Bavli, for the Aggadah from Scripture through the Midrash-compilations, Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and Pesiqta deRab Kahana; for both the Mishnah and Scripture through the Bavli. The book then compares and contrasts theological category-formations of the Rabbinic Aggadic writings by the criteria indicated in the title: generative vs. inert, primary vs. subordinate.

Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Theology at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, and a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard as well. He is also a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, and Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University in England. He has published more than 900 books and unnumbered articles, both scholarly, academic, popular and journalistic, and is the most published humanities scholar in the world.