Pesiqta Rabbati: a text-linguistic and form-analytical analysis of the rabbinic homily
Publication Date
2013
Description
Pesiqta Rabbati is a unique homiletic midrash that follows the liturgical calendar in its presentation of homilies for festivals and special Sabbaths. This article attempts to utilize Pesiqta Rabbati in order to present a global theory of the literary production of rabbinic/homiletic literature. In respect to Pesiqta Rabbati it explores such areas as dating, textual witnesses, integrative apocalyptic meta-narrative, describing and mapping the structure of the text, internal and external constraints that impacted upon the text, text linguistic analysis, form-analysis: problems in the texts and linguistic gap-filling, transmission of text, strict formalization of a homiletic unit, deconstructing and reconstructing homiletic midrashim based upon form-analytic units of the homily, Neusner’s documentary hypothesis, surface structures of the homiletic unit, and textual variants. The suggested methodology may assist scholars in their production of editions of midrashic works by eliminating superfluous material and in their decoding and defining of ancient texts.
Journal
Journal of Jewish Studies
Volume
64
Issue
1
First Page
64
Last Page
97
Department
Religious Studies
Recommended Citation
Ulmer, Rivka. "Pesiqta Rabbati: a text-linguistic and form-analytical analysis of the rabbinic homily." Journal of Jewish Studies (2013) : 64-97.