The next ancient law session will be in room A114 of the Samuel Alexander building on Wednesday 4 March at 5pm.
Katharina Keim will bring an excerpt from the Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, a much debated collection of biblical interpretations which poses all sorts of methodological and theoretical challenges (dating, provenance, text composition, interpolations, genre etc.). Below please find Katharina's introductory comments ahead of the reading session:
"In this session, we will look at an extract from the Pirqei deRabbi Eliezer (PRE), a Hebrew work from 8th/9th century CE. On the face of it, PRE is an exposition on the Biblical books of Genesis and Exodus. What emerges from a reading of the text is that there are a number of themes at play, including the theme of ‘Jewish Ethics’. We will discuss the way the text articulates its interest in ethics, and reflect on the relationship between ethical behaviour and obedience to the Law."
