Law and Wisdom in the Bible: David Daube's Gifford Lectures, Volume II

by David Daube, Calum Carmichael (Editor)

"That over forty years after they were delivered these famous but unavailable Gifford Lectures should be published is occasion for celebration. Once again we hear Daube’s voice, patient and probing, as he turns over, tests, pushes fresh inquiries, and finds new insights. No man has had such a subtle sense of scriptural texts matched by such a supple sense of the practices and peculiarities of human beings engaged in the legal process. Law and Wisdom in the Bible is classic Daube." mdash;John T. Noonan Jr., United States Circuit Judge David Daube (1909–99) was known for his unique and sophisticated research on Roman law, biblical law, Jewish Law, and medical ethics. In Law and Wisdom in the Bible , the first published collection of his 1964 Gifford Lectures, Daube derives from his complex understanding of biblical texts both ancient and contemporary notions about wisdom, justice, and education. In addressing these and other profound issues, Daube crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries and bridges the
gap between humanism and religion, especially with regard to Christianity and Judaism. With his sophisticated understanding of Talmudic law and literature, his thinking, which is on full display in these lectures, revolutionized prevailing perceptions about the New Testament.

Genres: Law

248 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2010

Reviews

[Matthew Colvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Daube at his best: delighting in the unfolding of puzzles and the making of connections between diverse texts. For the money, this book includes many of Daube’s best insights (it concludes with his case concerning the origins of the eucharist). Although the material is here argued less fully than in some of the articles in which Daube first worked out his ideas, the oral nature of these Gifford lectures makes them more readable than his other work. His wit, his gift for anecdote, his masterful phrasing and vocabulary all combine to make this a pleasant read.