| This dissertation examines how the rabbis of Late Antique Palestine depict themselves speaking with non Jews about Torah. I posit that a number of rabbinic dialogues with non Jews constitute a genre of discourse that I have termed "Socratic Torah." I draw on modern Socratic studies that address the significance of Plato's idiosyncratic use of dialogue for communicating philosophy. By setting rabbinic dialogues side by side with Platonic dialogues, I show that many of the conclusions drawn from Plato's choice of literary form may be applied, mutatis mutandis, to the rabbinic choice of an extremely similar form.;Socratic Torah reflects an attempt by the rabbis of Roman Palestine to represent themselves as a cosmopolitan elite, sensitive and sympathetic to the interests and needs of outsiders and flexible enough to cater to them. It reflects the breadth of rabbinic thinking, as it is based on an epistemology not entirely natural to the rabbis; and it reflects the complexity of rabbinic identity, as it shows that the rabbis put effort and care not only into their internal pedagogy, but into what it would take to invite their non-Jewish neighbors into conversation with them. Other rabbinic dialogues with non Jews similarly show a respect for the intelligence of non Jews and an acknowledgement that they can contribute originally and independently to rabbinic knowledge. |
