| This dissertation establishes an in-depth traditions-history of a representative sample of major themes in the Eden traditions of rabbinic literature, paying special attention to its development throughout the major corpora of the classical rabbinic sources. This study demonstrates that rabbinic literature on the Eden narrative cannot be perceived as an undifferentiated monolith, but must be understood as a dynamic process which developed over the course of many centuries. It shows that a core of Adam traditions crystallized in the period of the redaction of the major Palestinian amoraic corpora and were recycled and/or expanded in later sources. Using Genesis Rabbah as a base source, this study focuses on five key sets of scriptural verses in the Eden narrative which comprise the arc of the biblical story, from the events that lead to humanity's creation to the judgment and punishment of Adam and Eve: the creation of humanity (Gen 1:26--28; 2:7, 21), Adam's exalted stature in prelapsarian Eden (2:8, 15---17), the description of the serpent as the craftiest of creatures (3:1a), the transgression sequence (3:1b--7), and the enumeration of the punishments inflicted upon the progenitors (3:16--19). These themes are chosen for their centrality to the Eden narrative and for their evidence of significant development in the classical sources.;These themes are analyzed diachronically in the following strata of rabbinic literature: tannaitic literature (ca. second-third c. C.E.); Palestinian amoraic midrashim (primarily Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and the Palestinian Talmud) [ca. fifth c.], the Babylonian Talmud (ca. sixth-seventh c.), and the gaonic collections Tanh&dotbelow;uma (both the Warsaw and Buber editions), 'Abot de-Rabbi Nathan, and Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer (ca. eighth-ninth c.).;This dissertation focuses primarily on the intra-rabbinic development of these themes, yet recognizes that rabbinic literature did not develop in a cultural vacuum. Where necessary, it address outside influence, e.g. Christianity and/or Islam, especially with respect to the later strata of the selected rabbinic sources. This dissertation employs literary, redactional, and traditions-history criticisms as its major methodological tools. |
