Bøker av Louis Jacobs

In the traditional Talmudic methodologies, the subjects of Talmudic logic and methodology are generally treated together. With a few notable exceptions, there has been little attempt at a systematic presentation of such matters as the structure of the Talmudic arguments, the division of the sugya into its component parts, the methods of Talmudic reasoning, and the literary style and character of the Amoraic debates. This book notes some of the problems in this field and suggests some tentative solutions. The first part sheds light on Talmudic logic, in particular suggesting the ancients were aware of the process of Induction. The second part examines the literary analysis of the Amoraic literature, and argues that the Gemara in its present form is a 'contrived' literary product of great skill in which the older material used has been reshaped by methods similar to literary artists throughout the ages. Although the book is presented for the considerations of students of the Talmud, it m

This book deals with the life and thought of an original but neglected religious thinker who, perhaps more than any other in the history of Jewish thought, grappled with the problems inherent in the idea of God's unity. Rabbi Aaron Horowitz is generally acknowledged to be the most outstanding, systematic exponent of the profound Habad theory of Hasidism. With the renewed interest in Jewish mysticism in general and Hasidism in particular, this work can serve as an excellent introduction to the more intricate and stimulating ideas of the Movement, normally to be found only in recondite tomes written in difficult Rabbinic Hebrew and therefore beyond the scope of even serious students of the subject. One of the most striking features of the book is the way it demonstrates that there is a close affinity between Habad thought and Far Eastern spirituality. Dr Jacobs has succeeded in bringing a vanished world to life for the modern reader.

Some 111 million years ago, deep in the heart of Texas, a herd of twenty-ton dinosaurs sauntered across a wet mud flat. Their footprints eventually became frozen in stone, leaving a sign of one fleeting moment of a particular day in the lives of these magnificent creatures. Today, after mountains of time have passed, the story of dinosaurs in what is now Texas is being reconstructed, footprint by footprint, bone by bone. Lone Star Dinosaurs tells that story, along with the exciting tale of the discoveries that have opened a peephole into the past. Behind each fossil find, there is not just a dinosaur but a person-- sometimes a child--whose spark of curiosity lights the picture of prehistory. This is a thrilling story, engagingly written and beautifully illustrated, through which young and old alike can enter the world of the dinosaurs and the world of the dinosaur hunters. Dinosaurs are a Texas legacy from worlds long past. Pleurocoelus, Alamosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, Chasmosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, and Tenontosaurus are among the representatives Texas boasts of every basic group of dinosaurs--a remarkable diversity that samples nearly the entire range of dinosaurian development over an immense expanse of time. In fact, the three dinosaur-bearing areas within the state--the Panhandle, Central Texas, and Big Bend--yield treasures of vastly different ages, from the beginning of the Mesozoic Era more than 200 million years ago to the time of the big extinction some 66 million years ago. These dinosaurs lived in such different arrangements of the continents and oceans that they may as well have lived in different worlds. Their stories offer a compelling picture of the history of life on our planet.

This book, the only one in English that can serve as a textbook for beginners and more advanced students of the Babylonian Talmud, examines in detail a number of typical lengthy passages with a view to showing how Talmudic reasoning operates and how the Talmud was compiled by its final editors.

Through a careful analysis of the primary texts, Jacobs conducts a thorough survey of some of the most important instances where the individual is discussed in the Jewish religious tradition.

In this sequel to We Have Reason to Believe, Louis Jacobs meets the objections to his theological position put forward over the past forty years by critics on all sides.

'Remarkably well done, with profound scholarship but presented in a readable and absorbing manner.' Times Educational Supplement