Table of Contents

Introduction – Elizabeth Shanks Alexander Part I: The History of Religion 1. Religious Studies, Past and Present – Randall Styers 2. Different Religions? Big and Little "Religion" in Rabbinics and Religious Studies – Beth A. Berkowitz 3. J.Z. Smith on the Study of Religion, Humanities and Human Nature – Kurtis R. Schaeffer Part II: Managing Commitments 4. "A Cheerful Unease": Theology and Religious Studies – Paul Dafydd Jones 5. Reading Midrash as Theological Practice – Deborah Barer 6. Alexandria between Athens and Jerusalem: Religious Studies as a Humanistic Discipline – Charles Mathewes Part III: Comparative Rubrics and Rabbinic Data 7. The Legal Language of Everyday Life in Rabbinic Religion – Chaya Halberstam 8. Time, Gender and Ritual in Rabbinic Sources – Sarit Kattan Gribetz 9. Ritual Failure, Ritual Success, and What Makes Ritual Meaningful in the Mishnah – Naftali S. Cohn Part IV: Critical Reading 10.Thou Shalt Not Cook a Bird in its Mother’s Milk?: Theorizing the Evolution of a Rabbinic Regulation – Jordan D. Roseblum 11. Learning How to Read: How Rabbinics Aids in the Study of Contemporary Christian Scripture-Reading Practices 12. From the General to the Specific: A Genealogy of "Acts of Reciprocal Kindness" (Gemilut Hasidim) in Rabbinic Literature – Gregg E. Gardner

About the Author

Elizabeth Shanks Alexander is Professor and Director of the Undergraduate Program in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia.

Beth A. Berkowitz in Ingeborg Rennert Chair of Jewish Studies in the Religion Department at Barnard College.