This book provides a new conceptual and methodological framework the social scientific study of Mishnah, as well as a series of case studies that apply social science perspectives to the analysis of Mishnah's evidence.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Challenges and Opportunities in the Social Scientific Study of the Evidence of the Mishnah.- Chapter 2: Dignity or Debasement: The Destitute in the World of Mishnah.- Chapter 3:“The Land of Israel is Holier than all Lands:” Diaspora in Mishnah’s Cosmos – The Message.- Chapter 4: Marginal Person and/or Marginal Situation: The Convert in Mishnah.- Chapter 5: Religious Authority in the Mishnah: Social Science Perspectives on the Emerging Role of Scholars.- Chapter 6: Family Structure, Kinship, and Life Course Transitions: Social Science Explorations of the Mishnah.- Chapter 7: Study as a Socially Formative Activity: The Case of Mishnah Study in the Early Rabbinic Group.- Chapter 8: When Tosefta was Read in Service of Mishnah-Study: What Pervasive Literary-Rhetorical Traits of Toseftan Materials Divulge about the Evolution of Early Rabbinic Group Identity on the Heels of Mishnah’s Promulgation.- Chapter 9: Studying Mishnah “Talmudic-ly”: What the basic literary-rhetorical features of the Talmuds’ legal compositions and composite “essays” tell us about Mishnah study as an identity-informing activity within rabbinic groups at the end of Late Antiquity.

This book provides a new conceptual and methodological framework for the social scientific study of Mishnah, as well as a series of case studies that apply social science perspectives to the analysis of Mishnah's evidence. The framework is one that takes full account of the historical and literary-historical issues that impinge upon the use of Mishnah for any scholarly purposes beyond philological study, including social scientific approaches to the materials. Based on the framework, each chapter undertakes, with appropriate methodological caveats, an avenue of inquiry open to the social scientist that brings to bear social scientific questions and modes of inquiry to Mishnaic evidence.

“This book offers a fascinating contemporary perspective on the fundamental document of rabbinic Judaism, the Mishna.  The social scientific methodology adopted by its authors makes the book a useful and significant supplement to other scholarly approaches to the Mishna.  The volume’s significance greatly exceeds the sum of its parts and it should be read by anyone interested in exploring the foundations of rabbinic Judaism.” (Ira Robinson, Chair in Canadian Jewish Studies and Director, Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, Concordia University, Canada)

Proposes a new conceptual and methodological frame for studying the Mishnah Authored by scholars who have devoted substantial parts of their professional academic careers to social-scientific questions and approaches to evidence Written for those interested in early Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism