Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-303) and indexes.
Contents:
Part 1. "Like an Israelite in every respect" : the conversion procedure -- Part 2. "Like a scab" : negative attitudes toward converts and conversion -- Part 3. "Like a newborn" : the erasure of the convert's past -- Part 4. Contextualizing the Talmud "against its will".
Summary:
"In this volume, Moshe Lavee offers an account of crucial internal developments in the rabbinic corpus, and shows how the Babylonian Talmud dramatically challenged and extended the rabbinic model of conversion to Judaism. The history of conversion to Judaism has long fascinated Jews along a broad ideological continuum. This book demonstrates that the rabbis in Babylonia further reworked former traditions about conversion in an ever more stringent direction, shifting the focus of identity demarcation towards genealogy and bodily perspectives. By applying a reading-strategy that emphasizes late Babylonian literary developments, Lavee sheds critical light on a broader discourse regarding the nature and boundaries of Jewish identity."--Page 4 of cover.
Series:
Ancient Judaism and early Christianity = Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums, 1871-6636 ; volume 99
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.