Not offered in 1996. 16.7 4th year Dr M Baker. A 2-hour seminar per week. To understand the narrative strategies adopted by rabbis over the ages to interpret their sacred texts; to study Jewish views of the text and how they have evolved within particular historical contexts. A study of Jewish literacy and rabbinic culture from post-biblical times to the present. Beyond the cliché about Jews being the People of the Book, why are Jewish texts so central to the rabbinic imagination? This subject will consider the impact of social change on the interpretation of canonical literature and the impact on Jewish society of different types of writing, including law, homilies, philosophy, mysticism, hasidic parables, folk-tales and ethical literature. The genre of midrash - rabbinic hermeneutics - will also be studied in light of post-modernist theories about the text. Written work of no more than 6,000 words. Not offered in 1996. 16.7 4th year Dr M Baker. A 2-hour seminar per week. To understand the narrative strategies adopted by rabbis over the ages to interpret their sacred texts; to study Jewish views of the text and how they have evolved within particular historical contexts. A study of Jewish literacy and rabbinic culture from post-biblical times to the present. Beyond the cliche about Jews being the People of the Book, why are Jewish texts so central to the rabbinic imagination? This subject will consider the impact of social change on the interpretation of canonical literature and the impact on Jewish society of different types of writing, including law, homilies, philosophy, mysticism, hasidic parables, folk-tales and ethical literature. The genre of midrash - rabbinic hermeneutics - will also be studied in light of post-modernist theories about the text. Written work of no more than 6,000 words.