Theology in the Responsa by Jacobs, Louis;

Short description:

Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs examines more than a thousand years of rabbinic responsa and draws from them attitudes to basic theological principles which underlie his concern with such practical questions as life after death, reward and punishment, and the problem of suffering.

Long description:

Responsa are replies given by
prominent rabbinic authorities to questions put to them by other scholars,
asking for rulings on specific issues, generally of a practical nature. The
responsa literature is thus a repository of the learning and sound sense of
some of the greatest rabbinic authorities over a period of more than a thousand
years down to the present, and relates to all the countries where Jews have
lived. Although most of the emphasis in the responsa literature is undoubtedly
on practice, nearly all the great compilations of responsa also contain
discussions of a theological nature since changing conditions posed problems
for belief as well as practice.

In this volume, first published in
1975 and unrivalled in its treatment of the subject, Louis Jacobs examines
those responsa in which theology is considered and highlights the changes that
have occurred in the theological principles affecting the rabbis? attitudes to
such questions as life after death, reward and punishment, and the problem of
suffering.

Table of Contents:

Preface

1. The Goanic Period (to 1050)
2. The Eleventh Century
   Gershom
   of Mainz ? Rashi and his school ? Tosafists
3. The Twelfth Century
   Joseph
   Ibn Migash ? Joseph Ibn Plat ? Abraham b. Isaac of Narbonne ? Maimonides
   ? Abraham Ibn David of Posqui?re
4. The Thirteenth
   Century
   Nahmanides
   ? Abraham Maimoni ? Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg ? Isaac b. Moses of Vienna and
   his son ? Solomon Ibn Adret
5. The Fourteenth Century
   Asher
   b. Jehiel ? Isaac b. Sheshet Perfet
6. The Fifteenth Century
   Simeon
   b. Zemah Duran ? Solomon b. Simeon Duran ? Jacob Weil ?Israel Isserlein ?
   Elijah Mizrahi
7. The Sixteenth Century
   David
   Ibn Abi Zimra ? Moses Alashkar ?Benjamin Zeev of Arta ? Samuel di Medina ?
   Solomon Luria ? Moses Isserles ? Levi Ibn Habib ? Menahem Aazariah da Fano
8. The Seventeenth Century
   Joseph
   Trani ? Joel Sirkes ? Meir of Lublin ? Leon da Modena ? Jair Hayyim Bacharach ?
   Zevi Ashkenazi
9. The Eighteenth Century
   Jacob
   Emden ? Ezekiel Landau ? Jseph Ergas ? Meir Eisenstadt ? Jacob Reischer ?
   Samson Morpurgo ? Jacob Popers ? Judah Ayash ? Aryeh Laib Breslau
10. The Nineteenth
    Century
    Eleazar
    Fleckeles ? Hayyim Kittsee ? Moses Sofer ? Abraham Samuel Benjamin Wolf Sofer ?
    Simhah Bunem Sofer ? Samuel Ehrenfeld ? Moses Schick ? Hayyim Halberstam ? Joel
    Ungar ? Jacob Ettlinger ? Zevi Hirsch Chajes ? Joseph Saul Nathanson ? Naphtali
    Zevi Judah Berlin ? Jacob Saul Elyashar ? Joseph Hayyim of Baghdad ? Jacob
    Tennenbaum ? Abraham Anakawa ? Hayyim Sofer ? Marcus Horowitz ? Abraham
    Bornstein ? Judah Aszod ? Abraham Palaggi ? Solomon Kluger
11. The Twentieth Century
    Hayyim Eleazar Spira ? Hayyim
    Isaac Jeruchem ? Judah Grünwald ? Joseph Rozin ? David Hoffman ? Amram Grünwald
    ? Menahem Manish Babad ? Abraham Menahem Steinberg ? Hayyim Mordecai Roller ?
    Judah Laib Zirelson ?Mordecai Joseph Breisch ? Jehiel Jacob Weinberg ? Eliezer
    Waldenberg ? Isaac Jacob Weiss ? Moses Feinstein ? Ben Zion Uziel ? Zevi
    Ezekiel Michaelson ? Abraham Isaac Kook
12. Summary
    and Conclusions

Appendix I: Saul Berlin and the ?Besamim Rosh?
Appendix II: Isaac Lampronti?s ?Pahad Yitzhak?
Bibliography
Index