Rabbinic Thought

Abstract

This chapter looks at how later generations of Jews have looked back into the talmudic texts and found therein various ideas for which rabbinic authority is then claimed. This often leads to reading later systematic ideas back into rabbinic texts. However, the Talmud and midrashim are simply not the sorts of works in which one can generally find systematic thinking and formulation. As such, there is very little if any ‘settled doctrines’ about anything, including such questions as whether or not Judaism has a systematic theology or how Judaism understands faith in God. Despite all this, the chapter contends that the examination of rabbinically ordained practices and rabbinic texts can help in formulating answers to questions such as those raised above. In particular, the chapter considers what can be learned from rabbinic texts about Jewish conceptions of faith in God.