Execution and Invention: Death Penalty Discourse in Early Rabbinic and Christian Cultures

The death penalty in classical Judaism has been a highly politicized subject in modern scholarship. Those wishing to defend the Talmud from Enlightenment attacks on its legitimacy pointed to Talmudic criminal law as evidence for its elevated, progressive morals. But even more pressing was the need to prove the Jews' innocence of the charge of being Christ-killers. This charge hinged on the reconstruction of the ancient Jewish death penalty. The Gospels show a corrupt Jewish court as responsible for the death of Christ. Contemporary Jewish scholars have argued that the Mishnah's criminal law is in fact rigorously just and even abolitionist with respect to the death penalty. In this book Beth Berkowitz tells the story of modern scholarship on the ancient rabbinic death penalty and continues the story by offering a fresh perspective using the approaches of ritual studies, cultural criticism, and talmudic source criticism. Against the scholarly consensus, Berkowitz argues that the rabbinic laws of the death penalty were used by the early Rabbis in their efforts to establish themselves in the wake of the destruction of the Temple. The purpose of the laws, she contends, was to create a complex ritual of execution that was controlled by the Rabbis, thus bolstering their claims to authority in the context of Roman imperial domination.

Review :
"This is a splendid project. It is conceived brilliantly to be at the solid cutting edge of rabbinic scholarship. Berkowitz looks at the discourse of the death penalty as a discourse of power, as a way of asserting rabbinic authority, or even of constructing rabbinism itself, over-against its rivals. She goes on to integrate, apply, and interrogate the latest theoretical perspectives on culture and power, from Foucault through postcolonial theory and to ritual theory in a remarkably effective way and simply elucidates issues in a way that has not been done before. We are dealing here with a project that goes far beyond its case study and threatens to illumine the history of Judaism in unprecedented ways."--Daniel Boyarin, author of Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity "How a society treats the criminal in its midst can tell us a great deal about that society's ideas of justice, violence, legal authority, and social order. When a society applies the harshest of penalties -- capital punishment -- inevitably, these ideas are amplified and put to the test. Beth Berkowitz's Execution and Invention explores how the early rabbis theorized capital punishment, arguing that the ritual of execution preserved in the Talmud served primarily to promote a particular vision of rabbinic authority and to distinguish that authority from the dominant political and legal authorities of the time. This book brilliantly integrates close textual analysis, theories of ritual, and the reception history of late ancient rabbinic codifications of socially sanctioned violence.--Elizabeth A. Castelli, author of Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making "Beth Berkowitz's Execution and Invention is a highly engaging and persuasive study of the rabbis' views on the death penalty. Although they had no power to impose it, their reflections on the subject are revealing for issues of law, ethics and social identity. Also included are studies of early Christian views on execution. Berkowitz deftly brings out both the common roots of rabbinic and early Christian views on this subject, as well as the dramatic ways in which they differ. I recommend this book enthusiastically to students and scholars alike."--Adela Yarbro Collins, author of The Beginning of the Gospel: Probings of Mark in Context "Beth Berkowitz's Execution and Invention is a masterful study of discourses concerning the death penalty in early Christianity and, in particular, Rabbinic Judaism. Her readings throughout are extremely strong, avoiding the apologetics that characterized so much earlier writing on this subject. Drawing upon a variety of disciplines to sharpen her critical focus, Berkowitz is especially impressive in her interpretations of the ritual of execution as described in the Mishnah and related traditions. Execution and Invention is a pleasure to read, and it should serve as the standard reference for this topic for years to come."--David Kraemer, author of The Meanings of Death in Rabbinic Judaism "This is a splendid project. It is conceived brilliantly to be at the solid cutting edge of rabbinic scholarship. Berkowitz looks at the discourse of the death penalty as a discourse of power, as a way of asserting rabbinic authority, or even of constructing rabbinism itself, over-against its rivals. She goes on to integrate, apply, and interrogate the latest theoretical perspectives on culture and power, from Foucault through postcolonial theory and to ritual theory in a remarkably effective way and simply elucidates issues in a way that has not been done before. We are dealing here with a project that goes far beyond its case study and threatens to illumine the history of Judaism in unprecedented ways."--Daniel Boyarin, author of Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity "How a society treats the criminal in its midst can tell us a great deal about that society's ideas of justice, violence, legal authority, and social order. When a society applies the harshest of penalties -- capital punishment -- inevitably, these ideas are amplified and put to the test. Beth Berkowitz's Execution and Invention explores how the early rabbis theorized capital punishment, arguing that the ritual of execution preserved in the Talmud served primarily to promote a particular vision of rabbinic authority and to distinguish that authority from the dominant political and legal authorities of the time. This book brilliantly integrates close textual analysis, theories of ritual, and the reception history of late ancient rabbinic codifications of socially sanctioned violence.--Elizabeth A. Castelli, author of Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making "Beth Berkowitz's Execution and Invention is a highly engaging and persuasive study of the rabbis' views on the death penalty. Although they had no power to impose it, their reflections on the subject are revealing for issues of law, ethics and social identity. Also included are studies of early Christian views on execution. Berkowitz deftly brings out both the common roots of rabbinic and early Christian views on this subject, as well as the dramatic ways in which they differ. I recommend this book enthusiastically to students and scholars alike."--Adela Yarbro Collins, author of The Beginning of the Gospel: Probings of Mark in Context "Beth Berkowitz's Execution and Invention is a masterful study of discourses concerning the death penalty in early Christianity and, in particular, Rabbinic Judaism. Her readings throughout are extremely strong, avoiding the apologetics that characterized so much earlier writing on this subject. Drawing upon a variety of disciplines to sharpen her critical focus, Berkowitz is especially impressive in her interpretations of the ritual of execution as described in the Mishnah and related traditions. Execution and Invention is a pleasure to read, and it should serve as the standard reference for this topic for years to come."--David Kraemer, author of The Meanings of Death in Rabbinic Judaism