Between Encyclopaedia and Epitome – Talmudic strategies of knowledge-making in the context of ancient medicine and sciences

01.05.2022 bis 30.04.2026

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This interdisciplinary research consortium between institutes in London (IJS-UCL), Tübingen (IJ-UT), and Berlin (IWG-FU) will assess the significance of Talmudic literature as a rich ‘encyclopaedic’ body of knowledge, encompassing most of the branches of ancient sciences and beyond, within its broader trans-cultural (cuneiform, Syriac, Pahlavi and more), philosophical and religious contexts. Talmudic knowledge making will be studied in relation to similar traditions (scientific, legal and religious compilational texts) and shall be studied as embedded within the impulses and interplay of broader ancient intellectual trends (e.g. transformation of paideia, concepts of human/nature, emerging Christianity, translation movements). In dialogue with respective experts, the project will comparatively explore three complementary dimensions of rabbinic epistemological creativity: namely, structure or order of knowledge; application and practical value of knowledge, and its didactic dimensions through three interconnected frameworks: a) compilations, b) handbooks/ pragmatic texts, c) epistemic dynamics and cultural change.