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How the rabbis of the Talmud transformed Jewish law into a way of thinking and talking about everything Typically translated as "Jewish law," halakhah is not an easy match for what is usually thought of as law. This is because the rabbinic legal system has rarely wielded the political power to enforce its rules, nor has it ever been the law of any state. Even more idiosyncratically, the talmudic rabbis claim the study of halakhah is a holy endeavor that brings a person closer to God—a claim no country makes of its law. Chaim Saiman traces how generations of rabbis have used concepts forged in talmudic disputation to do the work that other societies assign not only to philosophy, political theory, theology, and ethics but also to art, drama, and literature. Guiding readers across two millennia of richly illuminating perspectives, this panoramic book shows how halakhah is not just "law" but an entire way of thinking, being, and knowing.

In The Trial of Jesus Alan Watson argues that by virtue of Jesus's conviction and crucifixion at the hands of the Romans he failed to fulfill the prophecy of his messiahship in the manner he had intended. Jesus's destiny, as he saw it, was to be condemned by the Jewish authorities to death by stoning. This is just one of the provoking insights in Watson's fresh interpretation of the arrest, trial, and conviction of Jesus. Drawing on the four Gospels, writings from the period, and Jewish and Roman laws and customs, Watson adds substantially to what we know about Jesus himself, his prophesies, the justness of the charges against him, his degree of guilt, and the powers, prerogatives, and motivations of his accusers. The Trial of Jesus joins three other works by Watson--Jesus and the Jews, Jesus and the Law, and Jesus: A Profile (all Georgia)--to examine the early dynamism of western religion through refocused attention on biblical texts and other historical sources.

"The authors of this volume set themselves one task, to trace the extra-biblical primary texts that are relevant for understanding Jesus' trial and crucifixion. With that goal in mind, the book is built on three major themes: (1) Jesus' trial / interrogation before the Sanhedrin, (2) Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilatus, and (3) crucifixion as a method of execution in antiquity. In chronologically sequential order (where possible), the authors select and arrange an overwhelming amount of extra-biblical primary texts -- 462 to be exact -- underneath these three categories (75, 46, and 341 texts respectively)."--Brian J. Wright in Religious Studies Review