MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 04014fam a2200469 a 4500
001 1519983
005 20220602052905.0
008 940113s1994 ilu b 001 0 eng
010 $a 94001096
020 $a0226675866 (cl)
035 $a(OCoLC)29793932
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm29793932
035 $9AJW6609CU
035 $a(NNC)1519983
035 $a1519983
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dNNC
050 00 $aBM729.P7$bP59 1994
082 00 $a296.7/1$220
100 1 $aPorton, Gary G.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80145987
245 14 $aThe stranger within your gates :$bconverts and conversion in rabbinic literature /$cGary G. Porton.
260 $aChicago ;$aLondon :$bUniversity of Chicago Press,$c1994.
263 $a9410
300 $axiii, 410 pages ;$c24 cm.
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
490 1 $aChicago studies in the history of Judaism
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 361-371) and index.
505 0 $a1. Problem and Method -- 2. Converts and Conversion in Mishnah -- 3. Converts and Conversion in Tosefta -- 4. Converts and Conversion in the Early Midrashic Texts -- 5. Converts and Conversion in the Palestinian Talmud -- 6. Converts and Conversion in the Babylonian Talmud -- 7. The Conversion Ritual -- 8. Marriages between Converts and Israelites -- 9. Converts as Newborn Children -- 10. Converts and the Israelite Way of Life -- 11. The Stranger within Your Gates.
520 $aIf the People Israel understood themselves to share a common ancestry as well as a common religion, how could a convert to their faith who did not share their ethnicity fit into the ancient Israelite community? While it is comparatively simple for a person to declare particular religious beliefs, it is much more difficult to enter a group whose membership is defined in ethnic terms. In showing how the rabbis struggled continually with the dual nature of the Israelite community, Gary G.
520 8 $aPorton explains aspects of their debates which previous scholars have either ignored or minimized.
520 8 $aThe Stranger within Your Gates analyzes virtually every reference to converts in the full corpus of rabbinic literature, treating each rabbinic collection on its own terms.
520 8 $aThe intellectual dilemma that converts posed to classical Jews played itself out in discussions of marriage, religious practice, inheritance of property, and much else: on the one hand, converts must be no different from native-born Israelites if the god of the Hebrew Bible is a universal deity; on the other hand, converts must be distinguishable from native-born members of the community if a divine covenant was made with Abraham's descendants.
520 8 $aReviewing the rabbinic literature text by text, Porton exposes the rabbis' frequently ambivalent and ambiguous views.
520 8 $aIn the context of rabbinic studies, The Stranger within Your Gates is the only examination of conversion in rabbinic literature to draw upon the full scope of contemporary anthropological and sociological studies of conversion. Porton's study is also unique in its focus on the opinions of the community into which the converts enter, rather than on the testimony of the converts themselves.
520 8 $aBy approaching data with new methods of analysis, Porton heightens our understanding of conversion and the nature of the People Israel in rabbinic literature.
650 0 $aProselytizing$xJudaism.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99003015
650 0 $aRabbinical literature$xHistory and criticism.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008110327
650 0 $aGentiles in rabbinical literature.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85053947
650 0 $aJews$xIdentity.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85070419
830 0 $aChicago studies in the history of Judaism.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n42006198
852 00 $bglx$hBM729.P7$iP59 1994