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The Judaism that is defined by its canonical writings (the Hebrew Bible, Mishnah, Talmuds, and Midrash) tells the story of how hope overcomes despair. Neusner explores the way rabbinic Judaism has responded to social, cultural, and political crises by rethinking historical, received paradigms of piety and practice—and finding in them relevant, useful truth for the current situation.

When faced with acute and catastrophic events, the Rabbinic sages explored anew the received paradigms and truth of their faith and discovered in them truth that is both continuous with the past and responsive to the contemporary unanticipated crisis.Neusner offers a broad thesis, theological at its core: when defeat turns to despair, Judaism comes to a turning point.And with the response to despair, in an act of stubborn affirmation, Judaism is transformed.

“In Transformations in Ancient Judaism, Neusner has managed to draw together for his readership the far reaching conclusions of the past two decades of his provocative work into a single volume. But the whole manages to exceed the mere sum of the parts. Neusner has brought his notion of “generative” forms of religion into historical context, from the priestly canonization of Scripture, through the Mishnah, and into Rabbinic Judaism’s most defining era, the age of the Talmud. This is an exquisite teaching text, which includes ample citations from original sources, always with an eye for illustrating how ideas constitute responses to historical circumstances. Its lucid narrative provides just enough background for even the student seeking an introduction to the formation of Rabbinic Judaism to follow the train of thought. But Neusner’s unique approach to the intersection between religious thought and practice, politics and culture, external historical motivations and internal bursts of creativity, make the narrative equally valuable for those seeking to understand at a more advanced level his unique employment of Jewish history. Every professor of Judaica should be considering this volume for any number of university courses.”
—David H. Aaron, Professor of Bible & History of Interpretation, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati

"That the life’s work of Professor Jacob Neusner is monumental in character is well-known to everyone interested in the history of the religious world of the first six centuries of the Common Era, when Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity were aborning. Because of Rabbi Neusner’s extraordinary diligence, all of the main texts of the classic Rabbinic corpus are now available in a single European language—English. This is an Herculean achievement. Moreover, his myriad commentaries on these texts, showing how the mind of classical Rabbinism worked, are worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence with those of Maimonides.
"Transformations in Ancient Judaism is a pleasure to read, not the least because of its pinpointing of key historical and theological issues in a clear, forthright, accessible style. Professor Neusner deals with three crucial moments in the train of events that has produced Rabbinic Judaism: the privileging of the Pentateuch as “The Torah” in the mid-fifth century B.C.E., the creation of the Mishnah after the Temple destructions of 70 and 132–35 C.E., and the development of the two great Talmuds in part in response to the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the late Roman Empire. He brilliantly elucidates how the integrity of the central kernel of the faith of ancient Israel was protected; and at the same time he shows how nimble were the Rabbinic minds who worked out a highly successful response to imperial Christianity."
—Donald Harman Akenson, Professor of History, Queen’s University, Canada, and author of Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds.

"Jacob Neusner's Transformations in Ancient Judaism is a masterful presentation of the conclusions of his studies, over the course of more than twenty years, of the documents of ancient Judaism in their historical settings. Building on the recognition that religion is a public phenomenon—an 'act of shared culture'—Neusner recounts the development of subsequent Judaic systems as they respond to the major challenges of ancient Jewish history. This is not a dry history of religious systems preserved in documentary records; it is a dramatic history of religious geniuses overcoming catastrophe—a story of 'how hope overcomes despair.'
"For readers who have followed Neusner's argument over this period, this book will provide a lucid re-statement of his systematic interpretation of ancient Judaism. For those who know only some of his studies, it will allow them to see the "big picture" for the first time. And for newcomers to his ouevre, it will offer a superb introduction to both his method and his conclusions. Without hesitation, one may say that this book is an essential part of any library that hopes to treat Judaism and religion in the ancient world."
—David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, Jewish Theological Seminary

"Building on his extensive work in the sources of Rabbinic Judaism, Jacob Neusner is becoming more of a constructive theologian and social-cultural theorist lately. This new book is his excellent effort in applying his earlier textual and historical studies to larger questions of the interplay of religon with society and culture. Unlike too many other scholars who adopt general categories early in their career and then merely select literary and historical data to illustrate them, Neusner more wisely builds his more general theories out of a meticulous and wide-ranging treatment of Rabbinic Judaism in all its intricate details. I would compare the trajectory of his work in and for Judaism to the work of Jaroslav Pelikan in and for Christianity. That is no small achievement."
—David Novak, J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto

Reviews

"This book is most suited for people with a background in Rabbinic Judaism or for those pursuing serious study of the period. Appropriate for academic libraries where there is interest in the period and where Neusner's works are collected."
—Library Journal

“Anyone interested in learning more about the development of rabbinic Judaism will come away from [Neusner’s] work with a greater understanding of how the Jewish religious was able to survive.”
—The Reporter

"This book is a needed introduction to media transformations in the history of Judaism. Neusner's discussion of the differences between the Mishnah and the other textual systems is clear and helpful. Most enlightening is an approach that understands Judaism and Christianity in structural-oppositional terms while not reducing them to Judeo-Christianity. The last chapter draws out some significant issues for the modern West. Though Neusner does not pursue it, he suggests that a reason for the growing number of new Jewish movements beginning with Hasidism at the dawn of the modern age is a series of new crises that have forced the transformation of the rabbinic system."
—Review of Biblical Literature

“This is most definitely a scholarly book with an academic approach to history and to Judaism. . . . I would recommend this book for libraries that maintain history collections or whose patrons are interested in the evolution of religion with the caveat that it is not light reading.”
—Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter

“Jacob Neusner’s contribution to the field of Jewish studies has been enormous. . . . This book is a valuable overview of N.’s evolving views on the development of rabbinic Judaism.”
—The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

“Neusner analyzes how normative Judaism reacted to major social crises in its history by reformulating the “received paradigm.” He focuses on religion’s potential for affecting public behavior and shaping public policy, specifically, on religion’s capacity to adapt its genius to new circumstances. Neusner does not contend that such reformulations are “only... manipulation[s] of religious attitudes and convictions” (3). Instead, at moments of great stress, he argues, religion - Judaism in this case - finds internal resources to meet the challenge. In particular, Neusner traces Judaism’s responses to three moments of extreme distress.

“As always, readers unfamiliar with Judaic studies, and especially with rabbinic discourse, will find this work somewhat challenging, although they will be grateful for Neusner’s careful, lucid analysis and explanation. The book commends itself to readers . . .for at least four reasons. (1) The dynamics of tradition, Neusner’s subject, manifest themselves in the history of Christian interpretation of its faith, as well. (2) Indeed, the dynamics of the formation of the Pentateuch, which belongs to the sources of the Christian tradition, too, can and should inform contemporary Christian readings of the Bible. (3) Since the third of Neusner’s crises involves the moment when Christianity and Judaism finally and ultimately parted company, and that on less than cordial terms, Neusner’s analysis can offer Christianity important insights for understanding itself through the eyes of its (elder) sibling. (4) In turn, anything that can help Christians and Jews better understand one has the potential to increase the level of harmony among Abraham’s children and is, therefore, commendable.
— Review and Expositor

“As with most other Neusner publications, this book is not one that can be read in an evening; the text is dense and the going is slow. However, as with most other Neusner publications, the game is worth the candle.”
—Toronto Journal of Theology

Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology, Bard College, and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He has published more than eight hundred books and innumerable articles, and he is editor of The Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period and the three-volume Encyclopaedia of Judaism. He has also served as President of the American Academy of Religion, and was appointed as Member of the National Council on the Humanities and the National Council on the Arts.

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