Biblical Myth And Rabbinic Mythmaking

by Fishbane, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780199284207
• ISBN10: 0199284202
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This is a comprehensive study of myth in the Hebrew Bible and myth and mythmaking in classical rabbinic literature (Midrash and Talmud) and in the classical work of medieval Jewish mysticism (the book of Zohar). Michael Fishbane provides a close study of

Author Biography

Michael Fishbane is Nathan Cummings Professor of Jewish Studies and Chair of the Committee on Jewish Studies at the University of Chicago

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xi
Introduction	1	(30)
I. Biblical Myth
Introduction	31	(6)
Combat Myths and Divine Actions: Prayers and Prophecies of Divine Might	37	(21)
In the Psalms	37	(11)
In Prophetic Literature	48	(10)
Personalization and Historicization of the Combat Motif: In Prayer and Prophecy	58	(5)
Conclusions and Other Considerations	63	(32)
Mythic Combat in Ancient Israel	63	(6)
The Mythic Hierarchy of Ancient Israel	69	(12)
Myth and Metaphor	81	(1)
Myth and Tradition	82	(13)
II. Rabbinic Myth and Mythmaking
Introduction	95	(17)
The Phenomenon: Topics and Techniques	95	(13)
Myth and Scripture	108	(2)
Delimiting the Focus	110	(2)
God and the Primordial Waters	112	(20)
Divine Combat and the Primordial Waters	112	(12)
The Waters of Tehom and the Temple	124	(8)
Myths of Participation and Pathos	132	(28)
Myths of Divine Participation: Egyptian Servitude and Other Events	134	(12)
Exilic Servitude and Divine Redemption	146	(14)
Myths of Divinity	160	(31)
Divine Pathos and Personality	160	(13)
Human Acts and Divine Activation	173	(18)
Conclusions and Other Considerations	191	(62)
Myth and Tradition	193	(27)
Myth and Language	220	(9)
Myth and the Morphologies of God	229	(24)
III. Jewish Myth and Mythmaking in the Middle Ages
Introduction	253	(20)
Some Reception-Histories of Myth	253	(14)
The Manifestation and Mystery of the Zohar	267	(6)
The Primordial Serpent and the Secrets of Creation	273	(20)
Serpent Myths and the Mystery of Evil	275	(10)
Excursus on Comparative Types	285	(8)
Divine Sorrow and the Rupture of Exile	293	(8)
Destruction of the Temple	293	(3)
Longing for Reunion	296	(5)
Conclusions	301	(5)
Final Conclusions	306	(9)
Appendix 1: Translations from Talmudic and Zoharic Sources	315	(10)
Appendix 2: The Term kivyakhol and its Uses	325	(77)
Special Abbreviations for Appendix 2	402	(3)
Select Bibliography	405	(14)
General Index	419	(13)
Index of Scriptural and Other Sources	432	(27)
Selected Hebrew Terms	459