Judaism Christianity And Zoroastrianism In Talmudic Babylonia

Describes and contrasts how two major religions approached the problem of writing down the traditions of the ages. Just before 700 A. D., Judaic sages compiled the Talmud of Babylonia; just after 800 A. D., Zoroastrian priests compiled the Pahlavi books. In both cases, the projects codified thought and became authorities for the later development o

"...examines the impact of the Persian Zoroastrian Empire on rabbinic identity and authority as expressed in the Babylonian Talmud."--

The Iranian Talmud reexamines the Babylonian Talmud—one of Judaism's most central texts—in the light of Persian literature and culture, providing an unprecedented and accessible overview to the vibrant world of pre-Islamic Iran that shaped the Bavli.

Essays that explore the rich engagement of the Talmud with its cultural world The Babylonian Talmud (Bavli), the great compilation of Jewish law edited in the late Sasanian era (sixth–seventh century CE), also incorporates a great deal of aggada, that is, nonlegal material, including interpretations of the Bible, stories, folk sayings, and prayers. The Talmud’s aggadic traditions often echo conversations with the surrounding cultures of the Persians, Eastern Christians, Manichaeans, Mandaeans, and the ancient Babylonians, and others. The essays in this volume analyze Bavli aggada to reveal this rich engagement of the Talmud with its cultural world. Features: A detailed analysis of the different conceptions of martyrdom in the Talmud as opposed to the Eastern Christian martyr accounts Illustration of the complex ways rabbinic Judaism absorbed Christian and Zoroastrian theological ideas Demonstration of the presence of Persian-Zoroastrian royal and mythological motifs in talmudic sources

"This book offers a comparative study between a number of Talmudic and Middle Persian narratives. The present work seeks first and foremost to examine Talmudic narratives in their Iranian context, and secondly to examine the Talmudic background of Iranian narratives where applicable. The first and second chapters will offer an analysis of the alteration of historical and biblical figures in the Bavli (the Babylonian Talmud) based on the influence of Iranian mythical and historical figures, while the third chapter will provide an account of how Iranists can learn from Talmudic studies. Here we suggest that a Talmudic narrative may have encouraged Zoroastrian priests to compose an extensive work of religious literature, namely the Ardā Wīrāz-nāmag, an idea which will be further explored in the appendix. The relationship between Iranian and Jewish materials in the Talmudic era is merely a piece of a larger puzzle, a piece that a number of scholars-such as Elman, Secunda, Mokhtarian, Her-man, Kiel, Kalmin, to name a few-have recently begun to focus on. By focusing on Talmudic narratives that have not yet been sufficiently examined for Iranian themes and ideas, this book represents a contribution towards piecing this puzzle together"--