Jurisprudence and Theology

ebook In Late Ancient and Medieval Jewish Thought · Studies in the History of Law and Justice

By Joseph E. David

cover image of Jurisprudence and Theology

Sign up to save your library

With an OverDrive account, you can save your favorite libraries for at-a-glance information about availability. Find out more about OverDrive accounts.

   Not today

Find this title in Libby, the library reading app by OverDrive.

Download Libby on the App Store Download Libby on Google Play

Search for a digital library with this title

Title found at these libraries:

Library Name Distance
Loading...

The book provides in depth studies of two epistemological aspects of Jewish Law (Halakhah) as the 'Word of God' – the question of legal reasoning and the problem of knowing and remembering.
-  How different are the epistemological concerns of religious-law in comparison to other legal systems?
-  In what ways are jurisprudential attitudes prescribed and dependent on theological presumptions?
-  What specifies legal reasoning and legal knowledge in a religious framework?

The author outlines the rabbinic jurisprudential thought rooted in Talmudic literature which underwent systemization and enhancement by the Babylonian Geonim and the Andalusian Rabbis up until the twelfth century. The book develops a synoptic view on the growth of rabbinic legal thought against the background of Christian theological motifs on the one hand and Karaite and Islamic systemized jurisprudence on the other hand. It advances a perspective of legal-theologythat combines analysis of jurisprudential reflections and theological views within a broad historical and intellectual framework.

The book advocates two approaches to the study of the legal history of the Halakhah: comparative jurisprudence and legal-theology, based on the understanding that jurisprudence and theology are indispensable and inseparable pillars of legal praxis.

Jurisprudence and Theology