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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian sacred works & liturgy > Sacred texts > General
"This is a groundbreaking study, examining the theme of creation in
4 Ezra more thoroughly than has been done before. Moo reads the
text with an exceptional alertness to data relating to creation and
nature and notices details often overlooked." -- Edward Adams,
Journal for the Study of the New Testament This exegetical study of
creation and nature in 4 Ezra argues that this first-century Jewish
apocalypse's profound pessimism concerning humankind and the
present age is matched by a surprisingly robust belief in the
goodness of the created order. 4 Ezra presents the natural world as
standing with God over and against corrupt humankind, envisions
substantial elements of continuity between the ages, and hints that
those parts of the earth that remain unsullied by humankind still
stand witness to God's sovereignty, love and justice and even serve
as material pointers to the new creation. This study calls into
question the persistent assumption that apocalypticism and the
'apocalyptic eschatology' of the historical apocalypses in
particular necessarily entails a profound dualism. Emerging as it
does from an experience of historical disaster and unresolved
questions of theodicy, 4 Ezra especially is often considered an
apocalypse in which the doctrine of the two ages has been
radicalised to the extent that creation, history and life in this
world have lost their meaning or significance. The results of this
study, however, indicate that while 4 Ezra considers the world of
humankind to be corrupted and corrupting, in the natural world the
creator's sovereignty is not so obscured, and there his original
intentions for creation can still be perceived. This study provides
a fresh reading of 4 Ezra that takes seriously the book's unity and
coherence. Its conclusions suggest that it may be best to abandon
the label 'apocalyptic eschatology' given its potential to mast the
interesting complexities and mix of continuity and discontinuity
that attend the portrayal of creation, nature and hope in an
apocalypse like 4 Ezra.
Divine Covenant explores the Qur'anic concept of divine knowledge
through scientific, theoretical paradigms - in particular natural
law theory - and their relationship with seven Islamic scholarly
disciplines: linguistics, hadith, politics, history, exegesis,
jurisprudence, theology. By comparing scholarship within these
disciplines with current state-of-the-art, the study shows how the
Qur'anic concept of divine Covenant reflects natural law theory,
relates to a range of other legal, political, and linguistic
Qur'anic concepts, informs the canon's entire literary structure,
and has implications for a new, legal theory of 'Islamic origins'.
The book makes the case that the Islamic disciplines share
political economy, institutional framework, and decisive
theoretical topics with the Qur'an. The latter include the natural
law-related issues of human rights, constitutional separation of
powers, and social contract. The book surveys the scholarly
deliberations of these topics within the parameters of each
discipline and in changing contexts. In addition, consequences of
the modern nation-state institutional order for early modern and
contemporary Qur'anic studies are mapped. It is argued that the
early and medieval Islamic disciplines offer scientifically
valuable knowledge because they refer to the same institutional
framework as the Qur'an. The disciplines are also important parts
of European political history, where they have inspired social
contract theory inclusive of diverse religious identities.
During its 2,500-year life, the book of Genesis has been the
keystone to almost every important claim about reality, humanity,
and God in Judaism and Christianity. And it continues to play a
central role in debates about science, politics, and human rights.
With clarity and skill, acclaimed biblical scholar Ronald Hendel
provides a panoramic history of this iconic book, exploring its
impact on Western religion, philosophy, science, politics,
literature, and more.
Hendel traces how Genesis has shaped views of reality, and how
changing views of reality have shaped interpretations of Genesis.
Literal and figurative readings have long competed with each other.
Hendel tells how Luther's criticisms of traditional figurative
accounts of Genesis undermined the Catholic Church; how Galileo
made the radical argument that the cosmology of Genesis wasn't
scientific evidence; and how Spinoza made the equally radical
argument that the scientific method should be applied to Genesis
itself. Indeed, Hendel shows how many high points of Western
thought and art have taken the form of encounters with
Genesis--from Paul and Augustine to Darwin, Emily Dickinson, and
Kafka.
From debates about slavery, gender, and sexuality to the
struggles over creationism and evolution, Genesis has shaped our
world and continues to do so today. This wide-ranging account tells
the remarkable story of the life of Genesis like no other book.
The essays in this compendium examine Late-Biblical writings dating
from the Hellenistic period that relate to religion and society. A
focus is placed on threat scenarios and on the drawing of
differences to the Hellenistic environment and the question of
identity for believers during the pre-Christian centuries.
The untold story of how the Arabic Qur'an became the English Koran
For millions of Muslims, the Qur'an is sacred only in Arabic, the
original Arabic in which it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in
the seventh century; to many Arab and non-Arab believers alike, the
book literally defies translation. Yet English translations exist
and are growing, in both number and importance. Bruce Lawrence
tells the remarkable story of the ongoing struggle to render the
Qur'an's lyrical verses into English--and to make English itself an
Islamic language. The "Koran" in English revisits the life of
Muhammad and the origins of the Qur'an before recounting the first
translation of the book into Latin by a non-Muslim: Robert of
Ketton's twelfth-century version paved the way for later ones in
German and French, but it was not until the eighteenth century that
George Sale's influential English version appeared. Lawrence
explains how many of these early translations, while part of a
Christian agenda to "know the enemy," often revealed grudging
respect for their Abrahamic rival. British expansion in the modern
era produced an anomaly: fresh English translations--from the
original Arabic--not by Arabs or non-Muslims but by South Asian
Muslim scholars. The first book to explore the complexities of this
translation saga, The "Koran" in English also looks at cyber
Korans, versions by feminist translators, and now a graphic Koran,
the American Qur'an created by the acclaimed visual artist Sandow
Birk.
Der Koran ist noch immer nicht Teil des europaischen Wissenskanons,
obwohl er tief in der biblischen Tradition verwurzelt ist. Er gilt
weithin noch als exklusiv islamischer Text. Die kritische Bewertung
seiner Beziehung zur Bibel und damit zur europaischen Tradition
setzt seine Einbettung in die - auch fur das spatere Europa
formative - spatantike Kultur voraus, in die er sich theologisch
innovativ einbrachte. Die grossen Fragen der Zeit wurden nicht nur
von Rabbinen und Kirchenvatern, sondern auch von der koranischen
Gemeinde debattiert. Ihre besonderen Antworten verdienen daher als
Beitrage zu einer neuen, sich intensiv in die laufenden
Religionsdebatten einbringenden Theologie Beachtung. Die sich dabei
abzeichnende Fokussierung des gesprochenen Wortes als der
massgeblichen Manifestation Gottes in der Welt kann nicht
ausserhalb des besonderen kulturellen Umfelds gesehen werden, in
dem lokale Dichtung der arabischen Hochsprache bereits eine
besondere Aura verliehen hatte. Der neue Blick auf den Koran
erfordert jedoch gleichzeitig eine kritische Neureflektion unserer
modernen - nie ganz unpolitischen - Philologien. Der Blick muss
frei werden fur die Textpolitik des Koran, die den Prozess der
Islamentstehung am ehesten erkennbar macht.
Sefer ha-Zohar (The Book of Radiance) has amazed readers ever since
it emerged in medieval Spain over seven hundred years ago. Written
in lyrical Aramaic, this masterpiece of Kabbalah exceeds the
dimensions of a normal book; it is virtually a body of mystical
literature, comprising over twenty discrete sections. The bulk of
the Zohar consists of a mystical interpretation of the Torah, from
Genesis through Deuteronomy. This seventh volume of The Zohar:
Pritzker Edition consists of commentary on more than half the book
of Leviticus. How does the Zohar deal with a biblical text devoted
largely to animal sacrifices, cereal offerings, and priestly
ritual? Here these ancient laws and procedures are spiritualized,
transformed into symbols of God's inner life, now that both the
Desert Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem no longer exist. For
example, the ascent offering, which was totally consumed on the
altar, is known in Hebrew as olah (literally, "that which
ascends"). In the Zohar, this symbolizes Shekhinah, last of the ten
sefirot (divine potencies), who ascends to unite with Her beloved,
the blessed Holy One. The biblical narrative describes how two of
Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, offered alien fire before YHVH and
were immediately consumed in a divine blaze. Rabbinic tradition
suggested various reasons why they were killed: they lacked the
proper priestly garments, or had not washed their hands and feet,
or were drunk, or were not married. For the Zohar, marriage enables
one to imitate the divine union of male and female energies, and to
stimulate that union above. By not marrying, Nadab and Abihu
remained incomplete and unfulfilled. According to a related Zoharic
passage, their ritual act failed because in their contemplation of
the divine qualities they did not include Shekhinah. Without Her,
God is incomplete.
Through extensive textual analysis, this open access book reveals
how various passages of the Qur'an define death and resurrection
spiritually or metaphorically. While the Day of Resurrection is a
major theme of the Qur'an, resurrection has largely been
interpreted as physical, which is defined as bones leaving their
graves. However, this book shows that the Qur'an sometimes alludes
to death and resurrection in a metaphoric manner - for example,
rebuilding a desolate town, typically identified as Jerusalem, and
bringing the Israelite exiles back; thus, suggesting awareness and
engagement with Jewish liturgy. Many times, the Qur'an even speaks
of non-believers as spiritually dead, those who live in this world,
but are otherwise zombies. The author presents an innovative theory
of interpretation, contextualizing the Qur'an within Late Antiquity
and traces the Qur'anic passages back to their Biblical,
extra-biblical and rabbinic subtexts and traditions. The ebook
editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND
4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.
In this book, Analayo builds on his earlier ground-breaking work,
'Satipatthana: the Direct Path to Realization'. Here, he enlarges
our perspective on this seminal teaching by exploring the practices
of mindfulness as presented in both the Pali and Chinese versions
of this important discourse.
Civilization implies, among other connotations, sophisticated
religious beliefs. The archaeological construct of Indus
civilization lacks sophistry. There are no known Harappan myths.
However, oral transmission of myths defines a prehistoric religion.
In this hypothesis, latter day beliefs are used to decode the
commonly used Indus script symbols, once these myths have been
contextualised. This approach permits an explanation of all the
distinctive features of the Indus script. Most of the script
symbols appear on steatite square stamp seals. These are too
friable for use in commerce. All carry religious imagery and are
most likely to be have been used as amulets, especially during the
catastrophic floods. Flood defences were a vital requirement in
this civilization. It is assumed that the populace worshipped a
flood-rescuing deity, most probably Matsya. Symbolic expression of
myths associated with Matsya, suggest that the Indus high-God was a
pre-Vishnu figure. Clusters of symbols in the script represented
chants or myths associated with a particular deity. This linguistic
feature does not imply that the script itself represented a
language. There are numerous inscriptions which lack any grouping
of symbols. It is asserted that Indus script is not a script, but a
complex religion-based symbol system. This hypothesis cannot be
proven because none of the interpretations of the symbols can be
externally validated. It does however have the merit of being both
cogent and plausible.
While Buddhism has no central text comparable to the Bible or
Koran, there is a powerful body of scripture from across Asia that
encompasses the "dharma," or the teachings of the Buddha. In this
rich anthology, eminent scholar Donald S. Lopez, Jr., brings
together works from a broad historical and geographical range, and
from such languages as Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and
Japanese. There are tales of the Buddha's past lives, a discussion
of qualities and qualifications for a monk, and an exploration of
the many meanings of enlightenment. Together they provide a vivid
picture of the Buddha and of the vast and profound nature of the
Buddhist tradition.
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