Recent Trends in the Study of Midrash and Rabbinic Narrative

Abstract

The present article surveys some significant developments in scholarship on rabbinic midrash and narrative (aggadic) sources. The contemporary trends in the study of midrash can be traced back to the work of Jacob Neusner in the early 1970s. This article traces developments from that time, and does so by isolating trends in (1) literary analysis, (2) cultural studies, and (3) new historicism. A final section (4) looks at equally important developments concerning still unfinished business of producing critical editions of rabbinic texts.