The Talmud's Theological Language-Game: A Philosophical Discourse Analysis

by Eugene B. Borowitz

In this pioneering effort, noted Jewish philosopher Eugene B. Borowitz opens up the rules by which the language-game of aggadic discourse is carried on in the Talmud, the foundational document of rabbinic and all later Judaism. These findings are compared with the aggadah (the realm in which almost all explicit statements about classic Jewish religious belief occur) of some other early rabbinic writings. Two issues drive Borowitz's What, if anything, constrains the unprecedented freedom of this realm? and How might one positively characterize the aggadah? Borowitz introduces us to the rabbis not only in their amazing profundity, but also in their unguarded humanity. He concludes with a reflection on how this old Jewish language-game should influence contemporary Jewish thought, and, perhaps, other religious thought as well.

328 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2006

About the author

"Eugene B. Borowitz is Sigmund L. Falk Distinguished Professor of Education and Jewish Religious Thought at the Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, where he has taught since 1962. He is the author of numerous books and the first person to receive a National Foundation for Jewish Culture Achievement Award in Scholarship for work in the field of Jewish thought."
- from the 1996 paperback edition of Renewing the Covenant