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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian sacred works & liturgy > Sacred texts > General
The Bhagavata Purana is one of the most important, central and
popular scriptures of Hinduism. A medieval Sanskrit text, its
influence as a religious book has been comparable only to that of
the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Ithamar
Theodor here offers the first analysis for twenty years of the
Bhagavata Purana (often called the Fifth Veda ) and its different
layers of meaning. He addresses its lyrical meditations on the
activities of Krishna (avatar of Lord Vishnu), the central place it
affords to the doctrine of bhakti (religious devotion) and its
treatment of older Vedic traditions of knowledge. At the same time
he places this subtle, poetical book within the context of the
wider Hindu scriptures and the other Puranas, including the similar
but less grand and significant Vishnu Purana. The author argues
that the Bhagavata Purana is a unique work which represents the
meeting place of two great orthodox Hindu traditions, the
Vedic-Upanishadic and the Aesthetic. As such, it is one of India s
greatest theological treatises. This book illuminates its character
and continuing significance."
The essay Reading and studying the Qur'an is an updated English
version of the work appeared in Italian (Rome 2021) Leggere e
studiare il Corano which deals with the contents of the Qur'an, the
style and formal features of the text, the history and fixation of
it and an poutline of the reception in Islamic literature. The aim
of the work is to give a reader a description of what he/she can
find in the Islamic holy text and the state of the critical debates
on all the topics dealt with, focusing mainly on the growing
scholarly literature which appeared in the last 30 years. As such,
the work is unique in combining the aim to give comprehensive
information on the topic and, at the same, time, reconstruct the
critical debate in a balanced outline also emphasizing confessional
approaches and the dynamics in the study of the Qur'an. There is
nothing similar in contemporary scholarship and the book is a
handbook for students and scholars of Islam but also for readers in
religious studies who need to know how the main questions related
to the Islamic text have been discussed in recent scholarship.
Rumi's great book of wisdom-infused poetry contain myriad lessons
on the importance of faith, with the culture and lessons of
spiritual, Biblical and Islamic teachings featuring strongly. In
authoring his masterwork, Rumi quoted the Qu'ran, the Bible and
several spiritual forebears. Wishing to align his poetry in order
to tell tales of man and man's place in the world, Rumi drew upon a
variety of religious and spiritual sources to create a poetic
compendium of supreme profundity and depth. The Masnavi was praised
as one of the finest works of mystical literature ever seen. It is
in the Masnavi that Persia's place between the spiritual cultures
of Asia and the Middle East is evidenced. Rumi himself, while
undoubtedly an Islamic scholar of great ability, did not feel
confined to the faith; he saw spiritual value in a range of
disciplines, and asserted that the light of Mohammed's prophecy
does not leave faithful Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians or other
denominations behind.
The First Comprehensive Summary, for the English Reader, of the
Teaching of the Talmud and the Rabbis on Ethics, Religion,
Folk-lore and Jurisprudence. Cohen does an excellent job of
presenting the origins of Talmudic literature and summarizing in a
meaningful way the many doctrines it contains.
'Ali, son of Abi Talib, Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin, is the
only Companion of the Prophet who has remained to this day the
object of fervent devotion of hundreds of millions of followers in
the lands of Islam, especially in the East. Based on a detailed
analysis of several categories of sources, this book demonstrates
that Shi'ism is the religion of the Imam, of the Master of Wisdom,
just like Christianity is that of Christ, and that 'Ali is the
first Master and Imam par excellence. Shi'ism can therefore be
defined, in its most specific religious aspects, as the absolute
faith in 'Ali: the divine Man, the most perfect manifestation of
God's attributes, simultaneously spiritual refuge, model and
horizon. With contributions by Orkhan Mir-Kasimov & Mathieu
Terrier Translated from French by Francisco Jose Luis & Anthony
Gledhill
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