This paper is an attempt to understand the construction and redaction
of tractate Avodah Zarah through the study of these dialogue-stories and their
context. It will demonstrate sensitivity to genre and aesthetics in exploring
questions of higher criticism. Additionally, I explicate the role of the
dialogues as a stylistic and rhetorical device in the shaping of tractate
Avodah Zarah. This will be a three-fold process. First, I read the dialogues
as “stories.” Next, I examine them in light of the collections of
mishnayot into which they are embedded. Finally, I present a reevaluation
of the place of these dialogues in the overall textual structure of the
tractate.