Veda and Torah,Transcending the Textuality of Scripture

In this book Barbara Holdrege has set a high standard for comparative work and has made an important contribution to both Hindu and Jewish studies. She has looked at Veda the Torah not simply as scripture, but as systems of meaning, symbol systems, each with its own affiliated meanings, each with its symbolic context, and each with its history of interpretation. By addressing the whole complex in which Veda and Torah have been transmitted and by seeing their uses and interpretation in the traditions that they enliven, Holdrege has problematized and expanded the usage of the tern scripture and has enriched the possibilities for significant comparative study.

Diana L. Eck, Harvard University

I found Holdrege's knowledge and treatment of the Hebrew material exemplary. There can be no doubt that she has made a fascinating contribution in her analysis of the Hebrew texts in themselves, in her conceptual treatment of the notion of text in Judaism, and in her instructive comparison of the Jewish and Hindu attitudes concerning this topic. In this latter domain I see her book as pioneering. Especially remarkable is the fact that in her treatment of Jewish religion she resorts to a large spectrum of Jewish corpora, beginning with Midrashic texts and ending with kabbalah.

Moshe Idel, Hebrew University.

This book is a remarkable piece of scholarship. The way in which the author employs traditional, text based methods of enlarge scholarly understanding of what texts are is revolutionary. The author demonstrates that scriptures are not just texts, one kind of religious medium alongside others, but constituent parts of religious and cultural life in ways that have been previously unappreciated and that will clearly be of interest to anthropologists and semioticians, as well as to historians and comparativists of religion.

Thomas B. Coburn, St. Lawrence University

Holdrege has produced a unique piece of work one that is equally learned and scholarly in two completely different religious traditions. This is a remarkable achievements in and of itself and offers the possibility for a comparative study that is vastly more informed than what has passed for comparative religion in the past. Holdrege addresses some of the most important question in the study of religion in this work: what are the sources of authority and legitimation in any given religious tradition? How are those sources- the canons of religious traditions- represented and how are they appropriated and reappropriated in the process of legitimating religious change? Her answers to these questions are informed, interesting and significant contributions to the field of religious studies as a whole.

Brian K. Smith, University of California, Riverside

About the Author

Barbara A. Holdrege is Associated Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a comparative historian of religions specializing in Hindu and Jewish Traditions.