Abstract
This survey is a part of a general project on the concept of Grace and its historical, semantic and pragmatical aspects as attested in the Hebrew Bible and the traditions that have evolved from it, reaching until the end of the age of Christian Patristics. In this context, the Rabbinic literature represents a distinctive continuation of the Hebrew Bible and its discourse.
It is a complex response to a) the destruction of the Temple, the national and cultural centre in Jerusalem and b) to the emergence of Christianity claiming to be the answer to the Old Testament expectations. The Rabbinic literature represents a shift from the cultic expertise of hereditary priestly circles towards expertise based on the study and interpretation of the Hebrew religious tradition.
In Christian, esp. Pauline theology, there is a strong moment of the paradox of grace, coming to reconcile people who have sinned.
The Rabbinic literature, on the other hand, understands Grace as an initial investment of God's trust towards people of Israel, or Jews, who have been trusted with the Torah (Mosaic Law), comprised of halakha, the system o religiously sanctioned prescriptions, and aggadah, religiously motivating narrations of Israel's past. In this way, the requirements of the Torah are not understood as a burden but as a sign of privileged relationship with God.