structures of communal politics in early rabbinic Jewry /
First Statement of Responsibility
Stuart A. Cohen.
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
New York :
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Cambridge University Press,
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
1990.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
1 online resource (xii, 294 pages)
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
Text of Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-287) and index.
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
The Jewish national revival of our times has stimulated scholarly interest in the historical origins and manifestations of Jewry's distinctive traditions of constitutional thought and political action. This study is a contribution to that enquiry. Focusing on the structures of communal rule forged during the first five centuries of the common era, the book presents an analysis of the processes whereby the rabbis and their disciples replaced both priests and civic rulers as foci of political royalty and instruments of domestic government throughout the Jewish world. Cohen argues that much of Jewish political history during the age of the Mishnah and Talmud can be read as a record of the attempt to reinterpret the ancient concept of the three crowns (or clusters of rulership which determined Jewish public behaviour) and adapt it to rabbinic purposes.