Literary Analogies in Rabbinic and Christian Monastic Sources

Literary Analogies in Rabbinic and Christian Monastic SourcesSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/WAKY36SS/tei

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.MichalBar-AsherLiterary Analogies in Rabbinic and Christian Monastic Sourceshttp://syriaca.org/cbss/WAKY36SShttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/WAKY36SShttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/WAKY36SS2010My research examines literary parallels in Christian and Jewish sources, culminating in an in-depth analysis of previously un-studied parallels between Christian monastic texts, the Apophthegmata Patrum ("The Sayings of the Desert Fathers") and Babylonian Talmudic traditions. My findings introduce a new type of interaction of Jews and Christians in Babylonia, and suggest, contrary to prior academic views, that this interaction was direct, interdependent, non-polemic and very much literary-based. These Monastic analogies shed a new light on the surprisingly inclusive nature of the Talmudic corpus. Chapter one recapitulates recent academic findings relating to the setting in which the Talmud was composed and surveys previous literature regarding the Christian background of the Babylonian Talmud. It also suggests a new reading of a passage in BT Avoda Zara 4a, which seems to indicate an isolation of Babylonian rabbis from the Christian population of their time. This chapter concludes with a methodological discussion of the nature of research based on parallel texts. Chapter two introduces the monastic text chosen for this parallel study, the Apophthegmata . I survey the history of the formation and early transmission of the literary traditions collected in the Sayings and then illustrate the transmission routes that would have enabled its literary connection with the Babylonian Talmud. The importance of the monastic movement in the Persian Empire during the time and geographical location of the composition and redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, makes a connection between the two religious populations a great probability. Chapter three surveys a broad list of parallels between the texts of the two religious movements and identifies points of contact and difference. Chapters four and five focus on specific detailed examples that feature a rabbinic borrowing of monastic literary elements: the BT Rashbi traditions (Shabbat 33b) and the Elazar b. Dordya story (Avoda Zara 17a). This dissertation has the potential to change the way we look at the research of both rabbinic and monastic texts: it changes our perception of the source materials used by the redactors of the Talmud, and teaches us about the circulation of monastic traditions in eastern Syriac circles. Bar-Asher, Michal. “Literary Analogies in Rabbinic and Christian Monastic Sources.” Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 2010. Michal Bar-Asher, Literary Analogies in Rabbinic and Christian Monastic Sources (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 2010).IV-VII CEJewish-Christian relationsRabbinic JudaismSyriac influence [Judaism]hagiographymonasticism