Читать книгу Judaism I - Группа авторов - Страница 33

Dr. Rachel Mikva, of the Chicago Theological Seminary, explores the emergence of biblical commentary and the multiplication of aggadic (narrative) forms during the Middle Ages. Qur’anic study inspired interest in biblical exegesis. Muslim concerns about describing God in anthropomorphic terms revived questions about such uses in midrash. Rationalism brought philosophy to bear on biblical study. Arabic grammar and lexicography helped cultivate a scientific approach to Hebrew. Muslim collections of hadith, and tafsir provided models for rabbinic anthologies.

Biblical commentary (parshanut) arose among the Geonim of Babylonia in the ninth century, employing methods of critical and linguistic analysis that differed from earlier rabbinic hermeneutics. It dominated exegesis with Rashi and his »school« in northern France during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The work of his grandson, Rashbam, is the pinnacle of peshat (contextual) exegesis. Abraham Ibn Ezra’s exegetical perspective was shaped in Spain, the epicenter of Judeo-Arabic grammatical scholarship. He disseminated it throughout Christian Europe.

The »plain sense« of Peshat did not suffice and became one stage in biblical hermeneutics. During the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, scholars integrated philosophy, narrative analysis, and mysticism within their writings. Through the works of Maimonides, Gersonides, David Kimḥi, and Naḥmanides, Peshat continued to be of value, but was contingent on historical context and individual perspectives. By the fourteenth century, approaches could be categorized by the acronym PaRDeS (paradise): Peshat, Remez, Derash, and Sod, representing plain sense or context, typology or allegory, midrash, and mystical interpretations.

»Aggadah« delineates Jewish prose related to Scripture, but not necessarily exegetical. Aggadah does not always take the form of story. It may contain admonitions to ethical conduct, theological reflection, historiography, exegesis, and other material. Five developments receive attention: innovation within midrash, narrative, historiography, ethical literature, and anthologies.

The historical processes of textualization and re-oralization complicate analysis. Much of the literature was composed under anonymous or collective authorship. Material was orally reenacted within the synagogue and study-house. Each performance could reshape the text. Works were assembled from earlier sources, leading some scholars to characterize it as »mere technical arrangement.« However, redactors exerted editorial control that revealed their own creativity, context, and purposes.