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Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

by Bernard M. Levinson (berman Family Chair In Jewish And Biblical Studies, Berman Family Chair In Jewish And Biblical Studies, Department Of Classical And Near Eastern Studies, University Of Minnesota)

  • Paperback
  • 224 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • 15.3 x 22.9 x 1.3 cm

£24.61

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Positioned at the boundary of traditional biblical studies, legal history, and literary theory, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation shows how the legislation of Deuteronomy reflects the struggle of its authors to renew late seventh century Judean society. Seeking to defend their revolutionary vision during the neo-Assyrian crisis, the reformers turned to earlier laws, even when they disagreed with them, and revised them in such a way as to lend authority to their new understanding of God's will. Passages that other scholars have long viewed as redundant, contradictory, or displaced actually reflect the attempt by Deuteronomy's authors to sanction their new religious aims before the legacy of the past. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern law and informed by the rich insights of classical and medieval Jewish commentary, Levinson provides an extended study of three key passages in the legal corpus: the unprecedented requirement for the centralisation of worship, the law transforming the old Passover into a pilgrimage festival, and the unit replacing traditional village justice with a professional judiciary.He demonstrates the profound impact of centralisation upon the structure and arrangement of the legal corpus, while providing a theoretical analysis of religious change and cultural renewal in ancient Israel. The book's conclusion shows how the techniques of authorship developed in Deuteronomy provided a model for later Israelite and post- biblical literature. Integrating the most recent European research on the redaction of Deuteronomy with current American and Israeli scholarship, Levinson argues that biblical interpretation must attend to both the diachronic and the synchronic dimensions of the text. His study, which provides a new perspective on intertextuality, the history of authorship, and techniques of legal innovation in the ancient world, will engage pentateuchal critics and historians of Israelite religion, while reaching out toward current issues in literary theory and Critical Legal Studies.
Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation and A More Perfect Torah
A More Perfect TorahDeuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation

  • Author

    Bernard M. Levinson (berman Family Chair In Jewish And Biblical Studies, Berman Family Chair In Jewish And Biblical Studies, Department Of Classical And Near Eastern Studies, University Of Minnesota)

  • Book Format

    Paperback

  • Publisher

    Oxford University Press

  • Published

    March 2002

  • Weight

    332g

  • Page Count

    224

  • Dimensions

    15.3 x 22.9 x 1.3 cm

  • ISBN

    9780195152883

  • ISBN-10

    0195152883

  • Eden Code

    1146830

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