386

Introducing Tosefta: Textual, Intratextual and Intertextual Studies

Harry Fox and Tirzah Meacham, editors
Hoboken, NJ: KTAV, 1999. xix + 340 p.

editors are professors at the University of Toronto and the work contains a cita-
tions index and a bibliography. The Tosefta is a comprehensive collection of mate-
rials attributed to rabbis of the second and third centuries. The articles are: Harry
Fox, &dquo;Introducing Tosefta: Textual intratextual and intertextual studies,&dquo; Jacob
Neusner, &dquo;Describing Tosefta: A systematic account,&dquo; Reena Zeidman, &dquo;An introduc-
tion to the genesis and nature of Tosefta, the chameleon of rabbinic literature,&dquo;
Shamma Freidman, &dquo;The primacy of Tosefta to Mishnah in synoptic parallels,&dquo; Yaa-
Reena Basser
Religious Studies, Queen’s University

The Concept of Equity in Calvin’s Ethic

Guenther H. Haas
Editions SR, 20
Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press for the Canadian Corporation for the
Study of Religion/Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses, 1997. xi +
205 p.

Guenther H. Haas
Editions SR, 20
Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press for the Canadian Corporation for the
Study of Religion/Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses, 1997. xi +
205 p.

The Golden rule of Matthew 7:12 is Calvin’s &dquo;short and simple definition of
equity.&dquo; According to Haas (Redeemer University College, Ontario), equity is &dquo;the
theme of central importance in Calvin’s social ethics.&dquo; The book is a sustained
attempt at substantiating this thesis.
Part 1 of the book explores the historical background to Calvin’s notion of
equity, including a discussion of the key term in Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca and the
Roman jurists, as well as an exploration of its deployment in Augustine, the
medieval jurists and Aquinas. Another aspect of the background (the background
comprises 40 percent of the book) probes the extent to which four Renaissance
scholars and four malristerial Reformers affected him.