The death penalty in classical Judaism has been a highly politicized subject in modern scholarship. Enlightenment attacks on the Talmud's legitimacy led scholars to use the Talmud's criminal law as evidence for its elevated morals. But even more pressing was the need to prove Jews' innocence of the charge of killing Christ. The reconstruction of a just Jewish death penalty was a defense against the accusation that a corrupt Jewish court was responsible for the death of Christ. In Execution and Invention; Beth A. Berkowitz tells the story of modern scholarship on the ancient rabbinic death penalty and offers a fresh perspective using the approaches of ritual studies; cultural criticism; and talmudic source criticism. Against the scholarly consensus; Berkowitz argues that the early Rabbis used the rabbinic laws of the death penalty to establish their power in the wake of the destruction of the Temple. Following recent currents in historiography; Berkowitz sees the Rabbis as an embattled; almost invisible sect within second-century Judaism. The function of their death penalty laws; Berkowitz contends; was to create a complex ritual of execution under rabbinic control; thus bolstering rabbinic claims to authority in the context of Roman political and cultural domination.Understanding rabbinic literature to be in dialogue with the Bible; with the variety of ancient Jews; and with Roman imperialism; Berkowitz shows how the Rabbis tried to create an appealing alternative to the Roman; paganized culture of Palestine's Jews. In their death penalty; the Rabbis substituted Rome's power with their own. Early Christians; on the other hand; used death penalty discourse to critique judicial power. But Berkowitz argues that the Christian critique of execution produced new claims to authority as much as the rabbinic embrace. By comparing rabbinic conversations about the death penalty with Christian ones; Berkowitz reveals death penalty discourse as a significant means of creating authority in second-century western religious cultures. Advancing the death penalty discourse as a discourse of power; Berkowitz sheds light on the central relationship between religious and political authority and the severest form of punishment.
#733536 in Books Ariel Glucklich 2003-10-30Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 5.70 x .80 x 8.90l; .85 #File Name: 0195169433288 pagesSacred Pain Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul
Review
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful. Extremely Interesting and Insightful!By HAriel Glucklich's "Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul" is a fabulous look at religious pain. In an area with so few books already; a book like Glucklich's is a gem.The author takes many approaches to the topic; ranging from anthropological; physiological; sociological and psychological to break down the use of pain (both self-inflicted and inflicted by others) into an insightful; understandable read. The book is filled with massive amounts of great content; as well as excellent citations from other good works and scholars; as well. The book is academic and scholarly; but hardly a dry read.I purchased this book because of my academic interest in body modification and pain ritual; but used it massively in a 'Religion and Psychology' course. I still find myself removing it from the shelf every now and again to look something up.Whether you ultimately agree with what the book presents; one will still find the book very interesting and thought-provoking.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. This book will take you a while-even though 200 pages you won't do it in a night or even a week !By Douglas E. LibertI just ordered the End Of Magic his other book after reading this one-The author deals with the psychological; social aspects of what pain is in regard to the religious experience and I get the feeling that being in touch with the Creator might not be in the formula at least in the way we traditionally see it. He really has an analytical mind and carefully dissects everything to the point where at times I was just seeing some of this pain in regard to religious experiences as a "rite of passage" or a "quality control" type of initiation thing for societies. The book goes from self inflicted type pain and offers interpretations for the phenomena and proceeds to anaesthesia where there is an attempt to completely block pain. The purpose being to gain approval or respectability of peers. So nonetheless the "pain"experience is as important as if there is maybe a god who sees and approves! I always thought of an old quote while reading this book; "A heightened religious experience may not necessarily put one in contact with the creator but it can raise the bar to where one definitely believes that he or she is in contact." Ihad to go back and completely reread paragraphs because I wasn't sure at times what I had read; but I think I sorta got the point! Anyways this book is worth the struggle and as I read it I found myself paging to the picture of the author thinking; "This looks like the kinda guy that could write a book like this; probably even was in a Sundance himself; analyzed it and now sandbagging it!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Topic is great however the writing style is ploddingBy Richard F. GeistFascinating book on the evolving way in which pain has been viewed as part of the social fabric over hundreds of years. Topic is great however the writing style is plodding.
