What is good, and what God demands : normative structures in tannaitic literature / / by Tzvi Novick.

• Superior document: Supplements to the Journal for the study of Judaism ; v. 144
• Author: Novick, Tzvi.
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: Supplements to the Journal for the study of Judaism ; v. 144.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (260 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.
• Other title: Preliminary Material /; Introduction /; Chapter One. Categorical Oppositions /; Chapter Two. Teleological Mitzvah /; Chapter Three. Scripture And World: Between The Schools Of R. Akiva And R. Ishmael /; Chapter Four. The Normative Realm As Mitzvah /; Chapter Five. "One Need Not Scruple": Law As Intrusion /; Chapter Six. Cautious Actors /; Chapter Seven. Eager Observance /; Chapter Eight. Exemplarity /; Conclusion /; Bibliography /; Index Of Names /; Index Of Sources /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. [217]-228) and an indexes.
• ISBN: 1282948873; 9786612948879; 9004188290
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: by Tzvi Novick.

The normative rhetoric of tannaitic literature (the earliest extant corpus of rabbinic Judaism) is predominantly deontological. Prior scholarship on rabbinic supererogation, and on points of contact with Greco-Roman virtue discourse, has identified non-deontological aspects of tannaitic normativity. However, these two frameworks overlook precisely the productive intersection of deontological with non-deontological, the first because supererogation defines itself against obligation, and the second because the Greco-Roman comparate discourages serious treatment of law-like elements. This book addresses ways in which alternative normative forms entwine with the core deontological rhetoric of tannaitic literature. This perspective exposes, inter alia, echoes of the post-biblical wisdom tradition in tannaitic law, the rich polyvalence of the category mitzvah, and telling differences between the schools of Akiva and Ishmael.