Fighting over the Bible : : Jewish interpretation, sectarianism and polemic from Temple to Talmud and beyond / / by Isaac Kalimi.

• Superior document: The Brill reference library of Judaism ; v. 54
• Author: Kalimi, Isaac.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2017]
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Series: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism 54.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (356 pages) :; illustrations.

Fighting over the Bible explores the bitter conflicts between main stream Jews and their internal and external opponents, especially between particular Jewish groups such as Pharisees, Sadducees, Qumranites, Samaritans, Rabbanites and Karaites, as well as with Christians and Muslims regarding their interpretations of Jewish Scripture. The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is an important sacred text for all branches of the Abrahamic faiths, but it has more often divided than unified them. This volume explores and exemplifies the roots of these interpretive conflicts and controversies and traces the rich exegetical and theological approaches that grew out of them. Focusing on the Jewish sources from the late Second Temple period through the high Middle-Ages, it illustrates how the study of the Bible filled the vacuum left by the Temple’s destruction, and became the foundation of Jewish life throughout its long conflicted history.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- The Place of the Bible in Jewish Religion and Culture: Written and Oral Torah -- Rabbinic Exegesis in Contradiction to the Simple Meaning of Biblical Texts -- Theologies and Methodologies in Classical Jewish Interpretation: A Study of Midrash Psalms and Its View of God -- Encounters and Polemics between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Medieval Jewish Exegesis -- A Bridge or a Barrier? Jews, Christians and the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: The Roots of Jewish-Christian Controversy -- The Binding of Isaac -- The Day of Atonement in the Late Second Temple Period: Disputes between Sadducees, Pharisees, and Qumranites -- The Hiding of the Temple Vessels in Jewish and Samaritan Literature -- The Relations between Jews and Arabs-Syrians in Pre-Islamic Jewish Sources -- Saadia Gaon and Abraham Ibn Ezra and Their Defense of the Written and Oral Torah -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of Sources -- Index of Authors -- Index of Subjects -- Index of Key Hebrew Terms and Expressions.