Surpassing Wonder
The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds
658 pages
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2 illustrations, 5 tables
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6-1/4 x 9-1/4
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© 1998
Elegant and inventive, Surpassing Wonder uncovers how the ancient Hebrew scriptures, the Christian New Testament, and the Talmuds of the Rabbis are related and how, collectively, they make up the core of Western consciousness. Donald Harman Akenson provides an incisive critique of how religious scholars have distorted the holy books and argues that it was actually the inventor of the Hebrew scriptures who shaped our concept of narrative history—thereby founding Western culture.
Contents
Figures and Tables
1. Introduction: Us and the Semites
Inventing the Covenant
2. Apparent Woe and Great Invention
3. Returning with Yahweh to Jerusalem
4. History's All-Embracing Arms: The Covenant
Inventive Fecundity and Judahist Multiplicity: The Later Second Temple Era
5. Siloam's Teeming Pool - I
6. Siloam's Teeming Pool - II
7. Siloam's Teeming Pool - III
The Invention of Christianity
8. The Re-Invention of the Species
9. From Yeshua of Nazareth to Jesus the Christ
The Invention of the Jewish Faith
10. Don't Stare at the Neighbors
11. The Hermetic, Perfect Mishnah
12. Taming the Mishnah: Tractate Aboth, the Tosefta, Sifra, and the Yerushalmi
13. The Bounteous Bavli and the Invention of the Dual Torah
14. Conclusion: Surpassing Wonder
Notes
Appendices
A. Glossary
B. Biblical Chronology
C. The Manuscript Base of the Holy Scriptures
D. Modern Biblical Scholarship and the Quest for the Historical Yeshua
E. The Great Rabbinic Corpus: Access, Dating, Translation, Methods, and Queries
General Index
Textual Index
1. Introduction: Us and the Semites
Inventing the Covenant
2. Apparent Woe and Great Invention
3. Returning with Yahweh to Jerusalem
4. History's All-Embracing Arms: The Covenant
Inventive Fecundity and Judahist Multiplicity: The Later Second Temple Era
5. Siloam's Teeming Pool - I
6. Siloam's Teeming Pool - II
7. Siloam's Teeming Pool - III
The Invention of Christianity
8. The Re-Invention of the Species
9. From Yeshua of Nazareth to Jesus the Christ
The Invention of the Jewish Faith
10. Don't Stare at the Neighbors
11. The Hermetic, Perfect Mishnah
12. Taming the Mishnah: Tractate Aboth, the Tosefta, Sifra, and the Yerushalmi
13. The Bounteous Bavli and the Invention of the Dual Torah
14. Conclusion: Surpassing Wonder
Notes
Appendices
A. Glossary
B. Biblical Chronology
C. The Manuscript Base of the Holy Scriptures
D. Modern Biblical Scholarship and the Quest for the Historical Yeshua
E. The Great Rabbinic Corpus: Access, Dating, Translation, Methods, and Queries
General Index
Textual Index
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History: Ancient and Classical History
Literature and Literary Criticism: Classical Languages
Religion: Comparative Studies and History of Religion | Judaism
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