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| Dublin Core |
PKP Metadata Items |
Metadata for this Document |
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| 1. |
Title |
Title of document |
5. ‘If They are Not Prophets, They Are Sons of Prophets': Folk Religion (Minhag) as a Source of Law in Rabbinic Judaism - The Use and Dissemination of Religious Knowledge in Antiquity |
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| 2. |
Creator |
Author's name, affiliation, country |
Philip Alexander; University of Manchester; |
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| 3. |
Subject |
Discipline(s) |
Religious Studies; Ancient History |
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| 4. |
Subject |
Keyword(s) |
Great tradition; little tradition; Minhag (custom); Halakhah (religious law); rule of recognition |
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| 5. |
Subject |
Subject classification |
religion in antiquity |
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| 6. |
Description |
Abstract |
In this paper I borrow the anthropological concept of “a great tradition” and “a little tradition” to explore the theme of the use and dissemination of religious knowledge. I argue that the relationship between the elite “great tradition” and the popular “little tradition” should be seen as a two-way street: the traditions dynamically interact, the “little” playing as crucial a role as the “great” in the overall definition of the religion. I argue this specifically for Judaism by tracing the interaction between custom (Minhag – taken roughly as folk-religion) and law (Halakhah – the Rabbinic definition of religious practice). Starting out from a close analysis of Hillel’s dictum, “Leave it to the people. The holy spirit is upon them. If they are not prophets they are sons of prophets” (Tosefta Pesahim 4.13-14 and parallels: Yerushalmi Pesahim 6.1, 33a-b and Bavli Peshaim 66a-b), I sketch the incorporation of Minhag into Halakhah from antiquity to modern times. Drawing on Legal Positivist analysis of English common law I discuss the “rule of recognition” which was applied by the Rabbis in accepting custom as law, and identify, with concrete examples, four Rabbinic attitudes to Minhag: (1) acceptance; (2) modification; (3) rejection; and (4) toleration. Thus, from an internal analysis of the Jewish legal tradition itself I argue that folk-religion is recognized by the Rabbinic elite as having made a significant contribution to Judaism. What the elite gave to the people, the people in many cases already owned. |
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| 7. |
Publisher |
Organizing agency, location |
Equinox Publishing Ltd |
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| 8. |
Contributor |
Sponsor(s) |
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| 9. |
Date |
(YYYY-MM-DD) |
20-Aug-2021 |
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| 10. |
Type |
Status & genre |
Peer-reviewed Article |
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| 11. |
Type |
Type |
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| 12. |
Format |
File format |
PDF |
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| 13. |
Identifier |
Uniform Resource Identifier |
https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/books/article/view/37994 |
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| 14. |
Identifier |
Digital Object Identifier |
10.1558/equinox.37994 |
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| 15. |
Source |
Journal/conference title; vol., no. (year) |
Equinox eBooks Publishing; The Use and Dissemination of Religious Knowledge in Antiquity |
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| 16. |
Language |
English=en |
en |
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| 18. |
Coverage |
Geo-spatial location, chronological period, research sample (gender, age, etc.) |
antiquity |
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| 19. |
Rights |
Copyright and permissions |
Copyright 2014 Equinox Publishing Ltd |