|
Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious experience > Mysticism
"Hasidism Incarnate" contends that much of modern Judaism in the
West developed in reaction to Christianity and in defense of
Judaism as a unique tradition. Ironically enough, this occurred
even as modern Judaism increasingly dovetailed with Christianity
with regard to its ethos, aesthetics, and attitude toward ritual
and faith. Shaul Magid argues that the Hasidic movement in Eastern
Europe constitutes an alternative "modernity," one that opens a new
window on Jewish theological history. Unlike Judaism in German
lands, Hasidism did not develop under a "Christian gaze" and had no
need to be apologetic of its positions. Unburdened by an apologetic
agenda (at least toward Christianity), it offered a particular
reading of medieval Jewish Kabbalah filtered through a focus on the
charismatic leader that resulted in a religious worldview that has
much in common with Christianity. It is not that Hasidic masters
knew about Christianity; rather, the basic tenets of Christianity
remained present, albeit often in veiled form, in much kabbalistic
teaching that Hasidism took up in its portrayal of the charismatic
figure of the "zaddik," whom it often described in supernatural
terms.
'The pen would smoothly write the things it knew But when it came
to love it split in two, A donkey stuck in mud is logic's fate -
Love's nature only love can demonstrate.' Rumi's Masnavi is widely
recognized as the greatest Sufi poem ever written, and has been
called 'the Koran in Persian'. The thirteenth-century Muslim mystic
Rumi composed his work for the benefit of his disciples in the Sufi
order named after him, better known as the whirling dervishes. In
order to convey his message of divine love and unity he threaded
together entertaining stories and penetrating homilies. Drawing
from folk tales as well as sacred history, Rumi's poem is often
funny as well as spiritually profound. Jawid Mojaddedi's sparkling
new verse translation of Book One is consistent with the aims of
the original work in presenting Rumi's most mature mystical
teachings in simple and attractive rhyming couplets. ABOUT THE
SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made
available the widest range of literature from around the globe.
Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship,
providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable
features, including expert introductions by leading authorities,
helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for
further study, and much more.
Focusing on the Maijbhandari movement in Chittagong, south-eastern
Bangladesh, which claims the status of the only Sufi order
originated in Bengal and which has gained immense popularity in
recent years, this book provides a comprehensive picture of an
important aspect of contemporary Bengali Islam in the South Asian
context. Expertise in South Asian languages and literatures is
combined with ethnographic field work and theoretical formulations
from a range of disciplines, including cultural anthropology,
Islamic studies and religious studies. Analysing the Maijbhandaris
tradition of Bengali spiritual songs, one of the largest popular
song traditions in Bengal, the book presents an in-depth study of
Bengali Sufi theology, hagiography and Maijbhandari esoteric songs,
as well as a discussion of what Bengali Islam is. It is a useful
contribution to South Asia Studies, as well as Islamic Studies.
Isaac Luria (1534-1572) is one of the most extraordinary and
influential mystical figures in the history of Judaism, a visionary
teacher who helped shape the course of nearly all subsequent Jewish
mysticism. Given his importance, it is remarkable that this is the
first scholarly work on him in English. Most studies of Lurianic
Kabbalah focus on Luria’s mythic and speculative ideas or on the
ritual and contemplative practices he taught. The central premise
of this book is that Lurianic Kabbalah was first and foremost a
lived and living phenomenon in an actual social world. Thus the
book focuses on Luria the person and on his relationship to his
disciples. What attracted Luria’s students to him? How did they
react to his inspired and charismatic behavior? And what roles did
Luria and his students see themselves playing in their collective
quest for repair of the cosmos and messianic redemption?
Martin Lings provides an excellent and authoritative introduction
to the mystical movement of the Sufis based on his lifelong
interest in Islamic culture. His explanation derives from a
profound understanding of Sufism, and extends to many aspects which
are usually neglected. His illuminating answer to 'What is Sufism?'
gives a taste of the very subject matter itself. What do Sufis
believe? What do they aim at? What do they do? Unlike other writers
on the subject, Martin Lings treats all the three questions with
equal justice. He is thus able to give a wealth of answers to the
main question 'What is Sufism?', each answer being from a different
angle but all going to the root of the matter. A reviewer wrote
'Should the book appear in paperback, I would use it for
undergraduate and graduate courses on Islamic civilization', and in
fact 'What is Sufism?' has become a set book in colleges and
universities on both sides of the Atlantic. It is now accepted as
the authoritative statement on the subject of Sufism and it has
been translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish. It has
also been published in Sarajevo in Bosnian, and is available in
Braille.
'Joking is teaching, so take care to listen - Don't look at just
the joke's form of expression. To jesters every serious thing's
hilarious, While to the wise hilarious jokes are serious' Rumi is
the greatest mystic poet to have written in Persian, and the
Masnavi is his masterpiece. Divided into six books and consisting
of some 26,000 verses, the poem was designed to convey a message of
divine love and unity to the disciples of Rumi's Sufi order, known
today as the Whirling Dervishes. Like the earlier books, Book Four
interweaves amusing stories with homilies to instruct pupils in
understanding of God's meaning. It has a special focus on the
mystical knowledge of the spiritual guide, elaborated through
stories such as Solomon's freeiration to the Queen of Sheba, and
animal fables. This is the first ever verse translation of Book
Four of the Masnavi. It follows the original by presenting Rumi's
most mature mystical teachings in simple and attractive rhyming
couplets.
A document of paramount historical importance, not only in terms of
Christianity but also with respect to the development of Western
religion. It chronicles the teachings of Jesus, who explains life's
mysteries to his disciples and Mary Magdalene. Their discussions
take place after Christ's resurrection and include accounts of his
ascension into heaven.
|
Centuries
(Hardcover)
Thomas Traherne; Introduction by Michael Martin
|
R716
Discovery Miles 7 160
|
Ships in 10 - 15 working days
|
|
One of America's finest living poets has breathed new life into the
early Christian mystics. From Saint Paul to Julian of Norwich, the
original texts of these mystical fathers and mothers of the Church
have been pored over, pressed for further revelation, and set in
verse to provide readers with fresh encounters of their wisdom and
provocations. At the heart of this undertaking is Scott Cairns'
conviction that the words of the mystics sacramentally partake of
the Word Himself, and as such are inexhaustible, generative powers.
These particular selections cohere in their common claim that Love
is the most compelling name of God, and also the most apt attribute
of the Holy One in Whom we live and move and have our being. In
that spirit, these luminous texts are understood to partake of
Love, and concurrently to witness to His presence and His promise
that, as "our Courteous Lord" averred to Julian, "All will be well,
all will be well, all manner of things will be well."
This is a multi-volume collection by leading authors in Islamic
Studies. The volumes were originally published between 1867 and
1987. The collection reprints texts carefully selected on the basis
of their influence and prestige, written by pre-eminent scholars of
Islamic history, philosophy and religion. The majority of the
volumes reprint the original, first editions, but where
appropriate, updated, enlarged editions are sometimes selected.
In 1913, Russian imperial marines stormed an Orthodox monastery
at Mt. Athos, Greece, to haul off monks engaged in a dangerously
heretical practice known as Name Worshipping. Exiled to remote
Russian outposts, the monks and their mystical movement went
underground. Ultimately, they came across Russian intellectuals who
embraced Name Worshipping and who would achieve one of the biggest
mathematical breakthroughs of the twentieth century, going beyond
recent French achievements.
Loren Graham and Jean-Michel Kantor take us on an exciting
mathematical mystery tour as they unravel a bizarre tale of
political struggles, psychological crises, sexual complexities, and
ethical dilemmas. At the core of this book is the contest between
French and Russian mathematicians who sought new answers to one of
the oldest puzzles in math: the nature of infinity. The French
school chased rationalist solutions. The Russian mathematicians,
notably Dmitri Egorov and Nikolai Luzin who founded the famous
Moscow School of Mathematics were inspired by mystical insights
attained during Name Worshipping. Their religious practice appears
to have opened to them visions into the infinite and led to the
founding of descriptive set theory.
The men and women of the leading French and Russian
mathematical schools are central characters in this absorbing tale
that could not be told until now. "Naming Infinity" is a poignant
human interest story that raises provocative questions about
science and religion, intuition and creativity.
Sufism through the eyes of a legal scholar In The Requirements of
the Sufi Path, the renowned North African historian and jurist Ibn
Khaldun applies his analytical powers to Sufism, which he deems a
bona fide form of Islamic piety. Ibn Khaldun is widely known for
his groundbreaking work as a sociologist and historian, in
particular for the Muqaddimah, the introduction to his massive
universal history. In The Requirements of the Sufi Path, he writes
from the perspective of an Islamic jurist and legal scholar. He
characterizes Sufism and the stages along the Sufi path and takes
up the the question of the need for a guide along that path. In
doing so, he relies on the works of influential Sufi scholars,
including al-Qushayri, al-Ghazali, and Ibn al-Khatib. Even as Ibn
Khaldun warns of the extremes to which some Sufis go-including
practicing magic-his work is essentially a legal opinion, a fatwa,
asserting the inherent validity of the Sufi path. The Requirements
of the Sufi Path incorporates the wisdom of three of Sufism's
greatest voices as well as Ibn Khaldun's own insights, acquired
through his intellectual encounters with Sufism and his broad legal
expertise. All this he brings to bear on the debate over Sufi
practices in a remarkable work of synthesis and analysis. A
bilingual Arabic-English edition.
Friedrich von Hugel's Mystical Element of Religion remains the
authoritative study of the spirituality of Catherine of Genoa.
First published in 1908, this seminal work develops the authoris
major theory of the three basic elements of religion,
institutional, intellectual and mystical. Von Hugel shows how
Catherineis mysticism relates to her life and thought, making his
comprehensive and masterly two-volume analysis a classic in the
study of Western mysticism.
Friedrich von Hugel's Mystical Element of Religion remains the
authoritative study of the spirituality of Catherine of Genoa.
First published in 1908, this seminal work develops the authoris
major theory of the three basic elements of religion,
institutional, intellectual and mystical. Von Hugel shows how
Catherineis mysticism relates to her life and thought, making his
comprehensive and masterly two-volume analysis a classic in the
study of Western mysticism.
Studying the history of the notion of the 'Perfect Human' (al-insan
al-kamil), this book investigates a key idea in the history of
Sufism. First discussed by Ibn 'Arabi and later treated in greater
depth by al-Jili, the idea left its mark on later Islamic mystical,
metaphysical, and political thought, from North Africa to Southeast
Asia, up until modern times. The research tells the story of the
development of that idea from Ibn 'Arabi to al-Jili and beyond. It
does so through a thematic study, based on close reading of primary
sources in Arabic and Persian, of the key elements of the idea,
including the idea that the Perfect Human is a locus of divine
manifestation (mazhar), the concept of the 'Pole' (qutb) and the
'Muhammadan Reality' (al-haqiqah al-Muhammadiyyah), and the
identity of the Perfect Human. By setting the work of al-Jili
against the background of earlier Ibn 'Arabian treatments of the
idea, it demonstrates that al-Jili took the idea of the Perfect
Human in several new directions, with major consequences for how
the Prophet Muhammad - the archetypal Perfect Human - was viewed in
later Islamic thought. Introducing readers to the key Sufi idea of
the Perfect Human (al-insan al-kamil), this volume will be of
interest to scholars and students interested in Sufism, Islam,
religion and philosophy.
|
|