> in the land of Israel; (4) Late Antique Talmudic Rabbinism, primarily inn Babylonia, down to the sixth century of the Christian Era. Lightstone attempts not only to describe these perceptions and relationships but also to account for them, to explore why scripture should be thus perceived. His imaginative approach to the challenging descriptive and theoretical tasks is influenced by literary and form-critical methods as well as by the methods and perspectives of social anthropology and sociology of the mind.

This unique attempts at revising the perception of the character of scripture should arouse the interest of scholars and students of Ancient Judaism.

Jack N. Lightstone has been on the faculty of Concordia University in Montreal since 1976, where he currently holds the post of Provost and Vice-Rector, Research. His previous publications include Society, the Sacred, and Scripture in Ancient Judaism and The Rhetoric of the Babylonian Talmud, Its Social Meaning and Context.