The Emergence of Jewish Dogma Medieval authorities responded to
outside pressures and formulated Jewish principles of faith. In
the following article, Menachem Kellner suggests that systematic
theology was not important to the rabbis of the Talmud. While,
strictly speaking, this is true--there are no self-conscious
attempts to organize Judaism's beliefs in the Talmud--some
scholars, David Berger in particular, reject Kellner's assertion
that, in Talmudic Judaism, one's beliefs had no affect on one's
Jewish identity or prospects for salvation. But that does not
change the fact that the articulation of Jewish beliefs was a
uniquely medieval phenomenon. This article is primarily
concerned with determining the causes of this phenomenon.
Finally, in his discussion of the Karaites, a medieval Jewish
sect, Kellner suggests that their practices did not differ much
from the mainstream Jewish tradition. In fact, however, the
Karaites relied primarily on biblical law without its talmudic
elaborations. Reprinted with the