There is no adequate understanding of contemporary Jewish and Christian theology without reference to Martin Buber. Buber wrote numerous books during his lifetime (1878-1965) and is best known for I and Thou and Good and Evil. Buber has influenced important Protestant theologians like Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Paul Tillich, and Reinhold Niebuhr. His appeal is vast--not only is he renowned for his translations of the Hebrew Bible but also for his interpretation of Hasidism, his role in Zionism, and his writings in psychotherapy and political philosophy.In addition to a general introduction, each chapter is individually introduced, illuminating the historical and philosophical context of the readings. Footnotes explain difficult concepts, providing the reader with necessary references, plus a selective bibliography and subject index.

The Guide for the Perplexed (Hebrew: Moreh Nevuchim, Arabic: dalalat al ha'irin is one of the major works of Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides, or the Rambam.

It is the main source of his philosophical views. The main purpose of the work is to expound on Maaseh Bereishit and Maaseh Merkavah (the sections of Jewish mysticism dealing with Creation from Genesis and the passage of the Chariot from Ezekiel), these being the two main mystical texts in the Tanakh.

Important and insightful essays provide a penetrating assessment of Christian responses in the Nazi era.

Over four decades ago, the pre-eminent Jewish theologian, Abraham Joshua Heschel, warned of a "second Holocaust" - a spiritual genocide against Judaism that American Jews were perpetrating on themselves. By engaging in assimilation and secularization, he argued, Jews were losing their religious identity and, through it, their identity as a people. In Faith Finding Meaning, Byron L. Sherwin makes the case for a return to Jewish theology as a foundation for restoring Jewish authenticity and for reversing self-destructive assimilationist trends.
Rather than focusing on the abstract theological concepts presented by Judaism, such as the existence and nature of God, Sherwin shifts the center of the discussion to the quest for individual meaning. As more Jews seek to affirm Judaism as a faith, they are increasingly asking two questions: What is Judaism? How does Judaism address my quest for meaning? This volume constructs a portrait of the Jewish faith that is deeply rooted in both classical and modern sources of Jewish thought. Jewish theological thinking can be understood as a response to such visceral existential issues as living in a covenantal relationship, finding God in the world, approaching sacred scripture, and committing ethical deeds. Finding this sort of individual meaning through Jewish theology is, Sherwin argues, the viable path by which Jews in the contemporary world can maintain identity amid assimilation.
Faith Finding Meaning will engage anyone seeking a refreshing new approach to interpreting Jewish theology and a guide for faithful living as the Jewish people move into the future.

A critical and challenging look at reinventing the synagogue, as the centerpiece of a refashioned Jewish community.

America is undergoing a spiritual revolution: only the fourth religious awakening in its history. I plead, therefore, for an equally spiritual synagogue, knowing that any North American Jewish community that hopes to be around in a hundred years must have religion at its center, with the synagogue, the religious institution that best fits North American culture, at its very core. from Chapter 1

Synagogues are under attack, and for good reasons. But they remain the religious backbone of Jewish continuity, especially in America, the sole Western industrial or post-industrial nation where religion and spirituality continue to grow in importance. To fulfill their mandate for the American future, synagogues need to replace old and tired conversation with a new way of talking about their goals, their challenges and their vision for the future.

In this provocative clarion call for synagogue transformation, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman summarizes a decade of research with Synagogue 2000 a pioneering experiment that reconceptualized synagogue life providing fresh ways for synagogues to think as they undertake the exciting task of global change.

Zionism and the State of Israel provides a topical and controversial analysis of the development of Zionism and the recent history and politics of Israel.
This thought-provoking study examines the ways in which the Bible has been used to legitimize the implementation of the ideological and political programme of Zionism, and the consequences this has had.

Middle Platonism explained how a transcendent principle could relate to the material world by positing an intermediary, modeled after the Stoic active cause, that mediated the supreme principle's influence to the world while preserving its transcendence. Having similar concerns as Middle Platonism, Hellenistic Jewish sapientialism, early Christianity, and Gnosticism appropriated this intermediary doctrine as a means for understanding their relationship to God and to the cosmos. However, these traditions vary in their adaptation of this teaching due to their distinctive understanding of creation and humanity's place therein. The Jewish writings of Philo of Alexandria and Wisdom of Solomon espouse a holistic ontology, combining a Platonic appreciation for noetic reality with an ultimately positive view of creation and its place in human fulfillment. The early Christians texts of 1 Cor 8:6, Col 1:15-20, Heb 1:2-3, and the prologue of John provide an eschatological twist to this ontology when the intermediary figure finds final expression in Jesus Christ. Contrarily, Poimandres (CH 1) and the Apocryphon of John, both associated with the traditional rubric "Gnosticism", draw from Platonism to describe how creation is antithetical to human nature and its transcendent source.

Praeger, in collaboration with the distinguished International Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization, Jerusalem, and in association with Israeli's Open University, has undertaken the publication of this multi-volume series. Binah brings together for the first time in English seminal articles in Jewish history, thought, and culture. This landmark series, edited by Joseph Dan and under the general supervision of Moshe Davis, will provide resource materials for students enrolled in courses in Jewish studies, religion, history, literature, sociology, cultural anthropology, and philosophy. Binah includes topics from the Biblical period through the 20th century. Each volume of articles is approximately 300 pages in length. An introduction explains the criteria for selecting the articles and indicates their contribution to Jewish history, thought, and culture. The articles, not previously translated, are adapted from their original Hebrew sources in order to make them more accessible to the undergraduate reader, but the editors have made every effort to remain faithful to the intent of the original authors. Each article is preceded by a statement that indicates the original source, a brief biographical sketch of the author placing the article within the framework of his life-work, and the name of the translator/adaptor. The series is bound in both a hardcover library version and in a loose-leaf fomat, allowing the instructor maximum flexibility in utilizing the materials. By special arrangement, purchasers acquire the right to make copies of the articles for student use. Thus, instructors can virtually build a package of readings for their students.

Series: Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum Section 1 - The Jewish people in the first century Historial geography, political history, social, cultural and religious life and institutions Edited by S. Safrai and M. Stern in cooperation with D. Flusser and W.C. van Unnik Section 2 - The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud Section 3 - Jewish Traditions in Early Christian Literature

Fragments of the Sixteenth-Century Nahuatl Census from the Jagiellonian Library: A Lost Manuscript provides a missing chunk of the sixteenth century Marquesado census-one of the earliest known texts in Nahuatl. In the critical edition of this manuscript, Julia Madajczak, Katarzyna Granicka, Szymon Gruda, Monika Jaglarz, and Jose Luis de Rojas reveal how it traveled across the Atlantic only to be lost during World War II and then rediscovered at the Jagiellonian Library, Poland. When connected to other surviving fragments of the Marquesado census, now held in Mexico and France, the Jagiellonian Library manuscript sheds new light on pre-contact and early colonial Nahua society. The authors use it to discuss the concept of calpolli, family life, and the production of administrative documentation in the early colonial Tepoztlan of today's Morelos.

Papers collected in this volume try to illuminate various aspects of philosophical theology dealt with by different Jewish and early Christian authors and texts (e.g. the Acts of the Apostles, Philo, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus), rooted in and influenced by the Hellenistic religious, cultural, and philosophical context, and they also focus on the literary and cultural traditions of Hellenized Judaism and its reception (e.g. Sibylline Oracles, Prayer of Manasseh), including material culture ("Elephant Mosaic Panel" from Huqoq synagogue). By studying the Hellenistic influences on early Christianity, both in response to and in reaction against early Hellenized Judaism, the volume intends not only to better understand Christianity, as a religious and historical phenomenon with a profound impact on the development of European civilization, but also to better comprehend Hellenism and its consequences which have often been relegated to the realm of political history.

In The Religious Cultures of Dutch Jewry an international group of scholars examines aspects of religious belief and practice of pre-emancipation Sephardim and Ashkenazim in Amsterdam, Curacao and Surinam, ceremonial dimensions, artistic representations of religious life, and religious life after the Shoa. The origins of Dutch Jewry trace back to diverse locations and ancestries: Marranos from Spain and Portugal and Ashkenazi refugees from Germany, Poland and Lithuania. In the new setting and with the passing of time and developments in Dutch society at large, the religious life of Dutch Jews took on new forms. Dutch Jewish society was thus a microcosm of essential changes in Jewish history.

Critical presentation of the whole evidence concerning Jewish history, institutions, and literature from 175 BC to AD 135; with updated bibliographies.

Since its first publication in 1970, A Survey of Israel s History has established itself as a popular and useful text in Bible colleges and seminaries. This revision by David O Brien, which brings A Survey of Israel s History up to date, is certain to add to its value and continue its popularity. A chapter on the Intertestamental Period has been added. Numerous line-maps, charts, and diagrams help to clarity details. An extensive chronological chart provides an overall summary of names and dates. Authoritative, thoroughly biblical, factually sound, and movingly human -- A Survey of Israel s History will prove enormously helpful to the student of the Bible, and to anyone in search of a definitive history of the chosen people."

The twelve studies here are arranged in three distinct groups - Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic philosophy, Jewish mysticism, and modern philosophy. One theme that appears in various forms and from different angles in the first two sections is that of 'Images of the Divine'. It figures not only in the account of mystical imagery but also in the discussion of the 'Know thyself' motif, and is closely allied to the subject-matter of the studies dealing with man's ascent to the vision of God and his ultimate felicity. In the third section three thinkers are discussed: the English Deist, William Wollaston, who is shown to be steeped in the medieval Jewish traditions of philosophy and mysticism; Moses Mendelssohn, the philosopher of eighteenth-century Enlightenment, whose thesis asserting Spinoza's influence on Leibniz's doctrine of the pre-established Harmony is investigated critically; and Franz Rosenzweig, the most brilliant religious philosopher in twentieth-century Jewry, whose notion of History is analysed. Originally published in 1969, this is an important work of Jewish philosophy.

Find Inspiration and Spiritual Understanding in Judaism's Ancient
Traditions of Dream Interpretation

This engaging, entertaining, and informative bedside companion will help you open up your dreams and discover the meanings they may hold for you.

"The Jewish Dream Book "invites you to integrate the spiritual wisdom of Judaism s past into your life today by honoring your dreams and striving to uncover their hidden messages. Exploring the Bible, Talmud, and other ancient sources, it will introduce you to inspiring, easy-to-use rituals and practices.

Included are diverse topics covering everything you ve ever wondered about dreams and dreaming: Uniquely Jewish ways to bless and honor your dreams Transforming a bad dream into a good one How and why to keep a dream journal How to encourage enlightening, productive, and healing dreams Guidelines for being a dream interpreter Historical dream interpretations Dream symbols and their meanings How to link your dreams to Torah

Jews and Judaism played a significant role in the history of the expansion of Europe to the west as well as in the history of the economic, social, and religious development of the New World. They played an important role in the discovery, colonization, and eventually exploitation of the resources of the New World. Alone among the European peoples who came to the Americas in the colonial period, Jews were dispersed throughout the hemisphere; indeed, they were the only cohesive European ethnic or religious group that lived under both Catholic and Protestant regimes, which makes their study particularly fruitful from a comparative perspective. As distinguished from other religious or ethnic minorities, the Jewish struggle was not only against an overpowering and fierce nature but also against the political regimes that ruled over the various colonies of the Americas and often looked unfavorably upon the establishment and tleration of Jewish communities in their own territory. Jews managed to survive and occasionally to flourish against all odds, and their history in the Americas is one of the more fascinating chapters in the early modern history of European expansion.

The studies that make up this book explore in what ways Israel's sacred tradition developed into canonical scripture and in what ways this sacred tradition was interpreted in early Judaism and Christianity. This collection will stimulate continuing investigation into the growth and interpretation of scripture in the context of the Jewish and Christian communities of faith, and will serve well as a reader for graduate courses with its focus on early exegesis and intertextuality.

Even though the earlier debates of the twentieth century have subsided, questions concerning the composition and genre of Daniel, the social setting of the work, its literary context, and its theology persist. Because of the Dead Sea Scrolls discoveries and advances in understanding the history of transmission, Daniel has found a new generation of scholars interested in its place in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Collins and Flint have assembled a stellar international team to review the state of Danielic studies and the hot issues surrounding them. Of the thirty-two essays, only one has previously appeared. Articles on Second Temple Judaism, theology, apocalypticism, and the New Testament afford the foundational resources scholars require for doing their own detailed analysis.
"Book of Daniel, Composition and Reception Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 are also available as set (isbn 0 391 04137 1)
This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.