Abstract
This issue continues a conversation about martyrdom in/and the Talmud that began at the PostModern Jewish Philosophy Network Talmud Institute in Princeton in August, 1995. Liz Shanks’ article and the responses to it in Volume 5.1 started the on-line conversation. I published an article (“Towards an Erotics of Martyrdom”) in Textual Reasoning 5.2, hoping that it would widen the circle of discussants further. With the essays in this issue that hope is realized.
There are three different groups of responses in this issue. The first group are those who are responding directly to the article and the sugya, and the questions raised by my reading of the sugya. The respondents in this group are Michael Carasik, Denise Kimber Buell and Charlotte Fonrobert. In the second group of respondents Peter Ochs reflects on the specific type of “Textual Reasoning” in my article and situates it within the spectrum of Textual Reasonings. Kris Lindbeck reflects on some of the issues of interpretation of the sugya within the context of the broader issues that the sugya raises. The final respondent, Michael Zank, raises the question of the sexualization of our discourse–reflecting back on the article and the responses. I am personally grateful to all the respondents for their insightful and stimulating comments. As Mike Carasik says in his response: “The mark of a good reading, to my mind, is that it does not merely explain a text, but suggests further creative interaction with it….” The same is true for a good response, and I am sure that you will agree that these essays will generate much further creative interaction.
Recommended Citation
"Old Series: Volume 6, Number 1 (February 1997)." Journal of Textual Reasoning Old Series: Vol. 6 (1997): 1-36. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/jtr/vol0/iss6/1