Punishment and Freedom: The Rabbinic Construction of Criminal Law

In Punishment and Freedom, Devora Steinmetz offers a fresh look at classical rabbinic texts about criminal law from the perspective of legal and moral philosophy. Steinmetz holds that the criminal and judicial procedures they describe were never designed to be applied in a real state. Rather, these texts deal with broader philosophical, theological, and ethical conceptions of the law.

Through close readings of passages describing criminal procedure and punishment, Steinmetz argues that the Rabbis constructed an extreme positivist view of sinaitic law based in divine command. This view of law is related to a conception of the human being as fully free and responsible. Steinmetz contrasts this philosophy with the reflections on law in the Pauline letters and argues that the Rabbis see their own view of law as a key marker of Jewish identity that is tied to the rabbinic notion that human beings are charged with shaping the world and their own destiny.

Punishment and Freedom is a valuable guide through talmudic discourse for scholars of Jewish thought, early Christianity, and legal philosophy.

Author: Devora Steinmetz
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 06/10/2008
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780812240689

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 07/04/2008 pg. 18

About the Author
Devora Steinmetz teaches Talmud and rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary.