Description: Exegesis--interpretation and explanation of sacred texts--is the quintessence of rabbinic thought. Fishbane discusses the nature and rationale of this interpretative process in a series of studies on ancient Jewish speculative theology. Focusing on questions pondered in Midrash, he shows how religious ideas are generated or justified by exegesis.
Brief description: Michael Fishbane is Nathan Cummings Professor of Jewish Studies, and Chair of the Committee on Jewish Studies, at the University of Chicago. Among his many books are Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel and Judaism: Revelation and Traditions.
Review Quotes: One of the leading specialists in the history of Jewish interpretation of the Bible has here applied himself to the broader matter of Jewish hermeneutic and how it is employed in the theology, mythology and theosophy of Judaism...A sound and useful corrective to those with a narrower notion of Jewish exegesis.--S. C. Reif "Society for Old Testament Study [UK]"