Performing Israel's Faith

Neusner brings together into a coherent picture the diverse legal and theological worlds of Halakhah and Aggadah, demonstrating how each in its own way was an integral component of rabbinic covenantal religion. Especially instructive is the manner in which he is able to extrapolate from the law's specific aspects of the realia of everyday life to which the Halakhah spoke. As a bonus, students of early Jewish literature and the New Testament will find fresh points of continuity and discontinuity with the traditions of rabbinic Judaism.

~George W. E. Nickelsburg, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa

Building on Ed Sanders' understanding of 'covenantal nomism,' Neusner provides a synthetic overview of rabbinic theology and concludes with a discussion of the relationship between law and lore, Halakhah and Aggadah. This book will be especially useful as an introduction to rabbinic theology for those who are not specialists in that literature. It is one of the most accessible of Neusner's voluminous writings on rabbinic Judaism.

~John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament, Yale University

In Performing Israel's Faith, Neusner demonstrates the centrality of Halakhah--Jewish practice--in any consideration of the theology of Judaism. Eschewing the flawed paradigm which looks only to the narrative compilations of the rabbis to discern their theological stance, Neusner pursues the oft-neglected insight of students of ritual: we don't merely espouse our faith, we perform it. By so doing, Neusner offers a fresh and original reading of Jewish theology as enacted, a reading that is both challenging and persuasive.

~David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, Jewish Theological Seminary