Confronting Vulnerability: The Body and the Divine in Rabbinic Ethics

Schofer, Jonathan Wyn

ISBN 10: 0226740099 / ISBN 13: 9780226740096

Published by University of Chicago Press, 2010

About this Item

Hardcover book in VG+/Fine condition. Pages are crisp and completely clean with sharp corners and no additional notes or highlighting. Binding is tight and secure. There is a tear approximately an inch in length to the dust jacket at the top of the spine, with a corresponding crinkle- but the jacket looks spiffy now that it is protected ina clear removable brodart cover. NOT a former library book. We ship promptly and in a box.

Seller Inventory # 38,476x

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Confronting Vulnerability: The Body and the Divine in Rabbinic Ethics
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226740099
• ISBN 13: 9780226740096
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Dimensions: 1.78W x 15.24H x 22.86D centimeters 1.78 centimeters width by 15.24 centimeters height by 22.86 centimeters depth
• Weight: 476 grams

About this title

Synopsis

While imparting their ethical lessons, rabbinic texts often employ vivid images of death, aging, hunger, defecation, persecution, and drought. In Confronting Vulnerability, Jonathan Wyn Schofer carefully examines these texts to find out why their creators thought that human vulnerability was such a crucial tool for instructing students in the development of exemplary behavior.

These rabbinic texts uphold virtues such as wisdom and compassion, propound ideal ways of responding to others in need, and describe the details of etiquette. Schofer demonstrates that these pedagogical goals were achieved through reminders that one’s time on earth is limited and that God is the ultimate master of the world. Consciousness of death and of divine accounting guide students to live better lives in the present. Schofer’s analysis teaches us much about rabbinic pedagogy in late antiquity and also provides inspiration for students of contemporary ethics. Despite their cultural distance, these rabbinic texts challenge us to develop theories and practices that properly address our frailties rather than denying them.

About the Author

Jonathan Wyn Schofer is associate professor of comparative ethics at Harvard Divinity School and the author of The Making of a Sage: A Study in Rabbinic Ethics.