Books by Daniel Boyarin

Makes the bold argument that the very concept of a religion of "Judaism" is an invention of the Christian church. The intellectual journey of world-renowned Talmud scholar Daniel Boyarin, this book will change the study of ""Judaism"" - an essential key word in Jewish Studies - as we understand it today.

Using Michael Bakhtin's notion of represented dialogue and real dialogism, this title demonstrates, through multiple close readings, that the give-and-take in these texts is actually monologic in spirit as well as shows that there are other elements that manifest genuine dialogicality.

Beginning with a startling endorsement of the patristic view of Judaism - that it was a 'carnal' religion, in contrast to the spiritual vision of the Church, the author argues that rabbinic Judaism was based on a set of assumptions about the human body that were profoundly different from those of Christianity.