Animals and animality in the Babylonian Talmud / Beth A. Berkowitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berkowitz, Beth A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Talmud--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Talmud.

Animals in rabbinical literature.

Animals--Religious aspects--Judaism.

Animals.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 227 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Animals and Animality in the Babylonian Talmud selects key themes in animal studies - animal intelligence, morality, sexuality, suffering, danger, personhood - and explores their development in the Babylonian Talmud. Beth A. Berkowitz demonstrates that distinctive features of the Talmud - the new literary genre, the convergence of Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian cultures, the Talmud's remove from Temple-centered biblical Israel - led to unprecedented possibilities within Jewish culture for conceptualizing animals and animality. She explores their development in the Babylonian Talmud, showing how it is ripe for reading with a critical animal studies perspective. When we do, we find waiting for us a multi-layered, surprisingly self-aware discourse about animals as well as about the anthropocentrism that infuses human relationships with them. For readers of religion, Judaism, and animal studies, her book offers new perspectives on animals from the vantage point of the ancient rabbis.

Contents:

Introduction : Balaam's ass, the Babylonian Talmud, and critical animal studies

Orientation to the Babylonian Talmud

Animal intelligence : Bava Qamma 34b-35a

Animal morality : Sanherin 55a-b

Animal suffering : Bava Metzia 32a-33a

Animal danger : Bava Qamma 80a-b

Animals as livestock : Sukkah 22b-23b

Conclusion : Jewish animals.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 16 May 2018).

ISBN:

1-108-54003-1

1-108-52912-7

1-108-54273-5