Her Master's Tools? Feminist and Postcolonial Engagements of Historical-Critical Discourse

Scholars have long noticed the many parallel passages in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds and have offered various explanations for them. The current scholarly consensus is that these parallels are not due to the Babylonian Talmuds knowledge of and reliance on the earlier. In this book Alyssa Gray sets out an original methodology for studying parallels in a Babylonian Talmud tractate and its Jerusalem Talmud counterpart (tractate Avodah Zarah) demonstrating that BT Avodah Zarah drew upon its predecessor. She argues that this dependence can be demonstrated through what she terms macro and micro analysis and that differences between the parallels can often be traced to BTs reworking of prior materials in keeping with its own cultural concerns.