The author presents in this work, which is based on an exhaustive study of the sources by means of philological-historical methods, a vivid picture of the religious and social thoughts of the Tanna'im and Amora'im, their absorption and rejection of extraneous concepts, their spiritual struggles and the goals they sought to achieve. The intellectual ferment marking this era crystallized principles that fashioned the Jewish national and religious image for generations. The wisdom of the great Jewish teachers of antiquity is on display here like in no other book. Two indexes (one by topic, one by texts) mentioned help the reader make use of the many obscure texts that Urbach quotes, some of them virtually impossible to find in translation anywhere. The sheer wealth of material collected in this volume is amazing. The book is well organized by 'doctrine' or belief, and Urbach does an excellent job of quoting the texts that he uses to come to his conclusions.