Date of Graduation
Spring 2012
Degree
Master of Arts in Religious Studies
Department
Religious Studies
Committee Chair
Julia Belser
Abstract
This thesis examines the reception of the tzedakah charity tradition through three dynamic periods of textual development: the Rabbinic Corpus, the Hebrew Bible, and the writings of Moses ben Maimonides. The purpose was to examine the narratives, social conditions, and textual development that contributed to an overall sense of Jewish justice. By utilizing the modern methods of diasporic religious theory and mnemohistory, the transtemporal ritualization of tzedakah charity emerges in light of diasporic attempts to negotiate boundary-making, collective identity, and social idealism. This thesis illuminates the influence of diaspora upon the formation of tzedakah, as the texts' authors fought to create/re-create a universal sense of Jewish identity, subsequently resulting in what Thomas Tweed calls "an imagined moral community."
Keywords
tzedakah charity, diasporic religious theory, mnemohistory, hebrew bible, rabbinic community, maimonides
Subject Categories
Religion
Copyright
© Krista Nichole Dalton
Recommended Citation
Dalton, Krista Nichole, "A Generously Imagined World: the Reception of Tzedakah Texts in Diasporic Jewish Communities" (2012). MSU Graduate Theses/Dissertations. 2587.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/2587
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