Rashi, Biblical Interpretation, and Latin Learning in Medieval Europe: A New Perspective on an Exegetical...

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Mordechai Z. Cohen (Yeshiva University, New York)

Rashi, Biblical Interpretation, and Latin Learning in Medieval Europe

A New Perspective on an Exegetical Revolution

Mordechai Z. Cohen (Yeshiva University, New York)

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English

Cambridge University Press
29 April 2021

Comparative religion; Judaism

In this volume, Mordechai Z. Cohen explores the interpretive methods of Rashi of Troyes (1040-1105), the most influential Jewish Bible commentator of all time. By elucidating the 'plain sense' (peshat) of Scripture, together with critically selected midrashic interpretations, Rashi created an approach that was revolutionary in the talmudically-oriented Ashkenazic milieu. Cohen contextualizes Rashi's commentaries by examining influences from other centers of Jewish learning in Muslim Spain and Byzantine lands. He also opens new scholarly paths by comparing Rashi's methods with trends in Latin learning reflected in the Psalms commentary of his older contemporary, Saint Bruno the Carthusian (1030-1101). Drawing upon the Latin tradition of enarratio poetarum ('interpreting the poets'), Bruno applied a grammatical interpretive method and incorporated patristic commentary selectively, a parallel that Cohen uses to illuminate Rashi's exegetical values. Cohen thereby brings to light the novel literary conceptions manifested by Rashi and his key students, Josef Qara and Rashbam.

By: Mordechai Z. Cohen (Yeshiva University New York)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 150mm, Width: 230mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 620g
ISBN: 9781108470292
ISBN 10: 1108470297
Pages: 350
Publication Date: 29 April 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dedication; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. A new program of Peshat ('plain sense' exegesis); 2. 'Settling' the words of scripture using Midrash; 3: St Bruno on psalms - precedent for Rashi?; 3: St Bruno on psalms - precedent for Rashi?; 4. Comparison to the Andalusian exegetical school; 5. Comparison to the Byzantine exegetical school; 6. Rashi's literary sensibilities and Latin Grammatica; 7. Rashi's notion of 'the poet' (ha-meshorer) in Latin context; 8. Joseph Qara and Rashbam: Peshat legacy in Northern France; 9. Literary sensibilities of Peshat within a Latin context; Bibliography; General index; Index of scriptural references; Index of rabbinic sources.

Mordechai Z. Cohen, author of Three Approaches to Biblical Metaphor (2003), Opening the Gates of Interpretation (2011), and The Rule of Peshat (2020), is a recognized expert on Jewish Bible interpretation in its Muslim and Christian cultural contexts. He has taught at universities in the US, Israel, Europe, and China.

Reviews for Rashi, Biblical Interpretation, and Latin Learning in Medieval Europe: A New Perspective on an Exegetical Revolution

'… Cohen's handsomely produced book [is] a highly informative, extremely fastidious exploration of important developments in biblical scholarship in the central Middle Ages and their complex intra- and interreligious interlacings.' Eric Lawee, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies