Description:
Naftali S. Cohn provides an innovative understanding of the rabbinic authors of the Mishnah and their intense focus on the Temple. He contends that the memory of the Temple served a political function for the rabbis, arguing for their own importance within the complex social landscape of Jewish society in Roman Palestine.
Brief description: Naftali S. Cohn is Professor of Religions and Cultures at Concordia University. He is the author of The Memory of the Temple and the Making of the Rabbis, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press, and co-editor of History, Memory, and Jewish Identity.
Review Quotes: "A learned, nuanced, and well-written study of an important theme in a foundational text of rabbinic Judaism. Cohn shows that we must look outside rabbinic literature if we are to place the Mishnah in a meaningful context. Well done."-- "Shaye J. D. Cohen, Harvard University"