An original and uncompromising study of the Qur'anic foundations of women's identity and agency, this book is a bold call to Muslim women and men to reread and reinterpret the Qur'an, Islam's most authoritative source, and to discover within its revelations an inherent affirmation of gender equality. Nimat Hafez Barazangi asserts that Muslim women have been generally excluded from equal agency, from full participation in Islamic society, and thus from full and equal Islamic identity, primarily because of patriarchal readings of the Qur'an and the entire range of early Qur'anic literature. Based on her pedagogical study of the sacred text, she argues that Islamic higher learning is a basic human right, that women have equal authority to participate in the interpretation of Islamic primary sources, and that women will realize their just role in society and their potential as human beings only when they are involved in the interpretation of the Qur'an. Consequently, a Muslim woman's relationship with God must not be dependent on her husband's or father's moral agency. Barazangi, an American Muslim of Syrian origin, is a scholar, an activist, and a concerned feminist. Her analysis of the complex interaction of gender, religion, and the power of knowledge for self-identity offers a paradigm shift in Islamic studies. She documents the historical development of Islamic thought and describes how Muslim males have arrived at the prevailing exclusionary positions. She considers the issues of dependent morality and of modesty, especially in attire - a polarizing subject for many Muslim women - and she concludes that the majority of Muslim women today are not educated even for a complementary role in society. The book offers a curricular framework for self-learning that could prepare Muslim women for an active role in citizenship and policy making in a pluralistic society and may serve as a guideline for moving toward a ""gender revolution."" Her main thesis, if carried out in the lives of Muslims in America or elsewhere, would be so radical and liberating that her discourse is more powerful than those of many Muslim feminists. She writes, ""I intend this book to affirm the self-identity of the Muslim woman as an autonomous spiritual and intellectual human being.

This book concerns an examination of the totality of the musical experience with a view to restoring the soul within it. It starts with an analysis of the strands in the landscape of contemporary spirituality. It examines the descriptors spiritual but not religious, and spiritual and religious, looking in particular at the place of faith narratives in various spiritualities. These strands are linked with the domains of the musicking experience: Materials, Expression, Construction and Values. The book sets out a model of the spiritual experience as a negotiated relationship between the musicker and the music. It looks in detail at various models of musicking drawn from music therapy, ethnomusicology, musicology and cultural studies. It examines the relationship between Christianity and music as well as examining some practical projects showing the effect of various Value systems in musicking, particularly in intercultural dialogue. It finally proposes an ecclesiology of musical events that includes both orate and literate traditions and so is supportive of inclusive community.

As the world becomes increasingly globalised Islam faces some important choices. Does it seek to "modernise" in line with the cultures in which it is practised, or does it retain its traditions even if they are at odds with the surrounding society? This book utilizes a critical rationalist viewpoint to illuminate many of the hotly contended issues in modern Islam, and to offer a fresh analysis. A variety of issues within Islam are discussed in this book including, Muslims and modernity; Islam, Christianity and Judaism; approaches to the understanding of the Quran; Muslim identity and civil society; doctrinal certainty and violent radicalism. In each case, the author makes use of Karl Popper's theory of critical rationalism to uncover new aspects of these issues and to challenge post-modern, relativist, literalist and justificationist readings of Islam. This is a unique perspective on contemporary Islam and as such will be of significant interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Islamic Studies and the Philosophy of Religion.

This is a collection of essays by members of the Society for Old Testament Study. It reviews new approaches and major developments in established approaches to Old Testament study over a wide range of topics. It reflects clearly the lively diversity which characterizes this area of scholarly study.

The Shepherd-Flock Motif in the Miletus Discourse (Acts 20:17-38) Against Its Historical Background provides a comprehensive survey of the use of the shepherd-flock motif in the ancient world for the readers of the New Testament. This review of Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Christian sources is guided by a motific approach that integrates the concept of metaphor, Semantics, and the comparative method. A chief concern of this study is to apply this knowledge to the study of Luke-Acts, especially the Miletus Discourse (Acts 20:17-38). The shepherd-flock motif appears to be central in this speech and helps to integrate other motifs and themes in this discourse, such as the kingship motif. The Shepherd-Flock Motif in the Miletus Discourse (Acts 20:17-38) Against Its Historical Background is indispensable to the study of motifs in the New Testament and contributes meaningfully to the scholarly research on Luke-Acts.

Essays challenging the orthodox opinion of anchorites as entirely divorced from the world around them. Much of the research into medieval anchoritism to date has focused primarily on its liminal and elite status within the socio-religious cultures of its day: the anchorite has long been depicted as both solitary and alone, almost entirely removed from community and living a life of permanent withdrawal and isolation, in effect dead to the world. Considerably less attention has been afforded to the communal sociability that also formed part of the reclusivelife during the period, The essays in this volume, stemming from a variety of cross-disciplinary approaches and methodologies, lay down a challenge to this position, breaking new ground in their presentation of the medievalanchorite and other types of enclosed solitary as playing a central role within the devotional life of the communities in which they were embedded. They attest also to the frequent involvement of anchorites and other recluses in local, national and, sometimes, international matters of importance. Overall, the volume suggests that, far from operating on the socio-religious periphery, as posited previously, the medieval anchorite was more often found at theheart of a sometimes intersecting array of communities: synchronic and diachronic; physical and metaphysical; religious and secular; gendered and textual. CATE GUNN has taught in the Continuing Education and LiteratureDepartments of the University of Essex; LIZ HERBERT MCAVOY is Professor of Medieval Literature at Swansea University. Contributors: Diana Denissen, Clare Dowding, Clarck Drieshen, Cate Gunn, Catherine Innes-Parker, E.A. Jones, Dorothy Kim, Liz Herbert McAvoy, Godelinde Perk, James Plumtree, Michelle Sauer, Sophie Sawicka-Sykes, Andrew Thornton OSB,

Jews have sometimes been reluctant to claim Jesus as one of their own; Christians have often been reluctant to acknowledge the degree to which Jesus' message and mission were at home amidst, and shaped by, the Judaism(s) of the Second Temple Period. In The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude David deSilva introduces readers to the ancient Jewish writings known as the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha and examines their formative impact on the teachings and mission of Jesus and his half-brothers, James and Jude. Knowledge of this literature, deSilva argues, helps to bridge the perceived gap between Jesus and Judaism when Judaism is understood only in terms of the Hebrew Bible (or ''Old Testament''), and not as a living, growing body of faith and practice. Where our understanding of early Judaism is limited to the religion reflected in the Hebrew Bible, Jesus will appear more as an outsider speaking ''against'' Judaism and introducing more that is novel. Where our understanding of early Judaism is also informed by the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Jesus and his half-brothers appear more fully at home within Judaism, and giving us a more precise understanding of what is essential, as well as distinctive, in their proclamation. This comparative study engages several critical issues. How can we recover the voices of Jesus, James, and Jude from the material purporting to preserve their speech? How can we assess a particular text's influence on Jews in early first-century Palestine? How can we be sufficiently sensitive to the meanings and nuances in both the text presumed to influence and the text presumed to be influenced so as not to distort the meaning of either? The result is a portrait of Jesus that is fully at home in Roman Judea and Galilee, and perhaps an explanation for why these extra-biblical Jewish texts continued to be preserved in Christian circles.

The Upanisads are among the most sacred foundational scriptures in the Hindu religion. Composed from 800 BCE onwards and making up part of the larger Vedic corpus, they offer the reader "knowledge lessons" on life, death, and immortality. While they are essential to understanding Hinduism and Asian religions more generally, their complexities make them almost impenetrable to anyone but serious scholars of Sanskrit and ancient Indian culture. This book is divided into five parts: Composition, authorship, and transmission of the Upanisads; The historical, cultural, and religious background of the Upanisads; Religion and philosophy in the Upanisads; The classical Upanisads; The later Upanisads. The chapters cover critical issues such as the origins of the Upanisads, authorship, and redaction, as well as exploring the broad religious and philosophical themes within the texts. The guide analyzes each of the Upanisads separately, unpacking their contextual relevance and explaining difficult terms and concepts. The Upanisads: A Complete Guide is a unique and valuable reference source for undergraduate religious studies, history, and philosophy students and researchers who want to learn more about these foundational sacred texts and the religious lessons in the Hindu tradition.

For anyone with an interest in the early history of Islam, this erudite anthology will prove to be informative and enlightening.
Scholars have long known that the text of the Koran shows evidence of many influences from religious sources outside Islam. For example, stories in the Koran about Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other characters from the Bible obviously come from the Jewish Torah and the Christian Gospels. But there is also evidence of borrowing in the Koran from more obscure literature.
In this anthology, the acclaimed critic of Islam Ibn Warraq has assembled scholarly articles that delve into these unusual, little-known sources. The contributors examine the connections between pre-Islamic poetry and the text of the Koran; and they explore similarities between various Muslim doctrines and ideas found in the writings of the Ebionites, a Jewish Christian sect that existed from the second to the fourth centuries. Also considered is the influence of Coptic Christian literature on the writing of the traditional biography of Muhammad.

Yitzhak Berger advances a distinctive and markedly original interpretation of the biblical book of Jonah that resolves many of the ambiguities in the text. Berger contends that the Jonah text pulls from many inner-biblical connections, especially ones relating to the Garden of Eden. These connections provide a foundation for Berger's reading of the story, which attributes multiple layers of meaning to this carefully crafted biblical book. Focusing on Jonah's futile quest and his profoundly troubled response to God's view of the sins of humanity, Berger shows how the book paints Jonah as a pacifist no less than as a moralist.

"Likely to be the standard work on this subject for years to come, and to contribute to one of the most important debates in the history of the Jewish people, on the very nature of Israel and the Covenant."
--James R. Russell, Harvard University

"The modern biblical interpreter...faces a daunting task in trying to unravel the intentions of the Torah's authors. S. does not retreat from the challenge."
--"Theological Studies"

"An excellent and provocative read . . . challenges the reader to rethink previously held suppositions concerning biblical texts."
--Carl S. Ehrlich, York University

Is the Torah true? Do the five books of Moses provide an accurate historical account of the people of ancient Israel's origins?

In The Original Torah, S. David Sperling argues that, while there is no archeological evidence to support much of the activity chronicled in the Torah, a historical reality exists there if we know how to seek it.

By noting the use of foreign words or mentions of technological innovations scholars can often pinpoint the date and place in which a text was written. Sperling examines the stories of the Torah against their historical and geographic backgrounds and arrives at a new conclusion: the tales of the Torah were originally composed as allegories whose purpose was distinctly and intentionally political.

The book illustrates how the authors of the Pentateuch advanced their political and religious agenda by attributing deeds of historical figures like Jeroboam and David to ancient allegorical characters like Abraham and Jacob. If "Abraham" had made peace with Philistines, for example, then David could rely on a precedent to do likewise. The OriginalTorah provides a new interpretive key to the foundational document of both Judaism and Christianity.

The Bhagavad Gita opens with a crisis - Prince Arjuna despairs on the battlefield, unsure if he should fight his kinsmen in a dreadful war. For Easwaran, the Gita's epic battle represents the war in our own hearts and Arjuna's anguish reflects the human condition: torn between opposing forces, confused about how to live. Sri Krishna's timeless guidance, Easwaran argues, can shed light on our dilemmas today. Placing the Gita's teachings in a modern context, Easwaran explores the nature of reality, the illusion of separateness, the search for identity, the meaning of yoga, and how to heal the unconscious. The key message of the Gita is how to resolve our conflicts and live in harmony with the deep unity of life, through the practice of meditation and spiritual disciplines. Sri Krishna doesn't tell Arjuna what to do. He points out the prince's choices, and then leaves it to Arjuna to decide. Easwaran shows us clearly how these teachings still apply - and how, like Arjuna, we must take courage and act wisely if we want our world to thrive.

This book examines culture, religion and polity in the context of Buddhism. Gananath Obeyesekere, one of the foremost analytical voices from South Asia develops Freud's notion of 'dream work', the 'work of culture' and ideas of no-self (anatta) to understand Buddhism in contemporary Sri Lanka. This work offers a restorative interpretation of Buddhist myths in contrast to the perspective involving deconstruction. The book deals with a range of themes connected with Buddhism, including oral traditions and stories, the religious pantheon, philosophy, emotions, reform movements, questions of identity and culture, and issues of modernity. This fascinating volume will greatly interest students, teachers and researchers of religion and philosophy, especially Buddhism, ethics, cultural studies, social and cultural anthropology, Sri Lanka and modern South Asian history.

Fully revised and updated, the second edition of The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur' n offers an ideal resource for anyone who wishes to read and understand the Qur' n as a text and as a vital component of Muslim life. While retaining the literary approach to the subject, this new edition extends both the theological and philosophical approaches to the Qur' n. Edited by the noted authority on the Qur' n, Andrew Rippin, and Islamic Studies scholar Jawid Mojaddedi, and with contributions from other internationally renowned scholars, the book is comprehensive in scope and written in clear and accessible language. New to this edition is material on modern exegesis, the study of the Qur' n in the West, the relationship between the Qur' n and religions prior to Islam, and much more. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur' n is a rich and wide-ranging resource, exploring the Qur' n as both a religious text and as a work of literature.

Viewed through the lens of the ancient talmudic, midrashic, and kabbalistic commentaries, this book examines, in biblical sequence, the scriptural passages related to our ancestral mothers, wives, and daughters. The chosen excerpts, clearly documented, seek to illuminate the question of what it may mean to be truly feminine, truly wise-how actions which appear to be malevolent, or at the very least, misguided, when superficially viewed, may, in fact, have been engineered to produce the greatest good. Barbara L. Thaw Ronson has not chosen to view the Bible as an historical document, attempting to uncover its often cryptic meanings based upon the societal dictates at the time in question; rather, she explores the Bible by perceiving it solely as a timeless Divine doctrine: to illuminate the value and significance of prayer and the individual woman's relationship with her Creator (which informs her relationship with family and neighbor). and to discover and highlight the idea of Woman that exists independently of the era into which she finds herself born.

Shaykh Tantawi Jawhari was an Egyptian exegete known for having produced a scientific interpretation of the Qur'an. A pioneering scholar in terms of familiarising the people of his time with many previously neglected matters regarding Islam and science, his publications shocked the Cairo educational system and other Muslim places of learning in the early twentieth century. This book examines the intersection between Tantawi Jawhari and Egyptian history and culture, and demonstrates that his approach to science in the Qur'an was intimately connected to his social concerns. Divided into three parts, part one contains three chapters which each introduce different aspects of Tantawi Jawhari himself. The second part explores the main aspects of his tafsir, discussing his approach to science and the Qur'an, and how he presented Europeans in his tafsir, and then addressing the impact of his tafsir on wider Muslim and non-Muslim society. The third section draws attention to the themes from all 114 suras of the Qur'an that are discussed within his commentary. It then analyses the current status of his views and the post-Jawharism perspective on science and the Qur'an, both today and in an imaginary future, in 2154. Providing new English translations of Tantawi Jawhari's work, the book delivers a comprehensive assessment of this unique figure, and emphasises the distinctive nature of his reading of the Qur'an. The book will be a valuable resource for anyone studying modern Egypt, the Qur'an, Islam and Science, and scientific interpretation and inimitability.

This book makes the Qur'an accessible to the English-speaking student who lacks the linguistic background to read it in the original Arabic by offering accessible translations of, and commentary on, a series of selected passages that are representative of the Islamic scripture. Mustanstir Mir, Director of the Center for Islamic Studies at Youngstown State University, offers clear translations and analysis of 35 selected passages of the Qur'an that will help students understand what kind of book the Qur'an is, what the scripture says, and how it says it.

With chapters written by leading scholars specifically for this volume, 'Back to the Sources' is the first comprehensive guide to this literary legacy: the Bible, the Talmud, the midrashic literature, the commentaries, the legal codes, the mystical texts of the Kabbalah and of Hasidism, the philosophical works and the prayerbook.

This acclaimed spiritual masterpiece is widely regarded as one of the most complete and authoritative presentations of the Tibetan Buddhist teachings ever written. A manual for life and death and a magnificent source of sacred inspiration from the heart of the Tibetan tradition, The Tibetan Book Of Living and Dying provides a lucid and inspiring introduction to the practice of meditation, to the nature of mind, to karma and rebirth, to compassionate love and care for the dying, and to the trials and rewards of the spiritual path.

Jenny R. Labendz investigates rabbinic self-perception and self-fashioning within the non-Jewish social and intellectual world of antique Palestine, showing how the rabbis drew on Hellenistic and Roman concepts for Torah study and answering a fundamental question: was rabbinic participation in Greco-Roman society a begrudging concession or a principled choice? As Labendz demonstrates, Torah study was an intellectual arena in which rabbis were extremely unlikely to look beyond their private domain. Yet despite the highly internal and self-referential nature of rabbinic Torah study, some rabbis believed that the involvement of non-Jews in rabbinic intellectual culture enriched the rabbis' own learning and teaching. Labendz identifies a sub-genre of rabbinic texts that she terms "Socratic Torah, " which portrays rabbis engaging in productive dialogue with non-Jews about biblical and rabbinic law and narrative. In these texts, rabbinic epistemology expands to include reliance not only upon Scripture and rabbinic tradition, but upon intuitions and life experiences common to Jews and non-Jews. While most scholarly readings of rabbinic dialogues with non-Jews have focused on the polemical, hostile, or anxiety-ridden nature of the interactions, Socratic Torah reveals that the presence of non-Jews was at times a welcome opportunity for the rabbis to think and speak differently about Torah. Labendz contextualizes her explication of Socratic Torah within rabbinic literature at large, including other passages and statements about non-Jews as well as general intellectual trends in rabbinic literature, and also within cognate literatures, including Plato's dialogues, Jewish texts of the Second Temple period, and the New Testament. While she focuses on non-Jews in the Palestinian Talmud and midrashim, the book includes chapters on the Babylonian Talmud and on the liminal figures of minim and Matrona. The passages that make up the sub-genre of Socratic Torah serve as the entryway for a much broader understanding of rabbinic literature and rabbinic intellectual culture.

An indispensable resource for everyone who cares about the Jewish future. Every passage of Torah has the potential to be someone s personal story and teaching and that definitely includes you as a teenager. If you read these stories, and if you really let these holy texts into your mind and into your soul, your life will be deeper and richer, and even happier. from the Introduction

Young people need to be included in the struggle for meaning, for the right questions to ask and the search for useful and relevant answers. This is "the" book that has been missing from the ever-expanding bookshelf of Torah commentaries a collection of messages on each Torah portion, specifically for today s teens. It shows them how each Torah portion contains worlds of meaning for them, for what they are going through in their lives, and how they can shape their Jewish identity as they enter adulthood.

Addressing the concerns of young adults, it shows how the Torah can help teens deal with issues including: Interpersonal relationships Social justice Sexuality and gender issues Personal ethics Responsibility to family Community and the Jewish people Body image Tattoos Community service The meaning of faith Authority and rebellion The role of ritual Personal theology Prayer Civility Living safely Dealing with disabilities Challenges of eating morally

This groundbreaking spiritual resource is truly transdenominational including the insights of over 100 Jews who identify as Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Renewal, post-denominational and just Jewish. They are rabbis, cantors, educators, authors and community leaders. Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Renewal, post-denominational and just Jewish. They are rabbis, cantors, educators, authors and community leaders."

This volume contains fi fteen articles, many in Hebrew, by leading scholars. The articles cover a broad range of subjects, from an analysis of biblical narratives as expounded in the midrash and by medieval commentators, through a discussion of Maimonides' attitude towards midrash and an analysis of talmudic aggadah as expounded by oriental scholars, to polemics concerning the attitude to aggadah in the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, and culminating with an analysis of interpretation of aggadah by latter-day talmudic scholars. There are also articles about the essence of aggadah, its literary conventions and its relation to law, and two articles which deal with a passage in the Passover Haggadah. The participants include: E. Eizenman, N. Ilan, G. Blidstein, Y. Blau, M. Bregman, A. Grossman, H. Davidson, C. Horowitz, O. Viskind-Elper, H. Mak, A. Atzmon, A. Kadari, A. Rozenak, M. Shmidman, and J. Tabory.

Advaita Vedanta is one of the most important and widely studied schools of thought in Hindu religion and the Vivekacudamani is one of the most important texts in the Advaita tradition and the most popular philosophical work ascribed to the great Indian philosopher, Sankara. Sankara (c.650-700) is considered to be a giant among giants and probably the most venerated philosopher in India's long history. The Vivekacudamani is in the form of a dialogue between a preceptor (guru) and a pupil (sisya) expounding the quintessence of Advaita in which the pupil humbly approaches the preceptor and, having served the teacher selflessly, implores to be rescued from worldly existence (samsara). The guru promises to teach the way to liberation (moksa) which culminates in the ecstatic experience of one's own Self. This book presents an accessible translation of the entire text and also includes Upanisadic cross-referencing to most of its 580 verses, extensive notes, a lengthy Introduction, list of variant readings, an extensive bibliography, and an index to the verses. All those interested in Indian religion and philosophy, Hindu studies, or Sanskrit, will find this readable English translation of an Indian philosophical classic invaluable.

Gospel Characters: Jesus and His Contemporaries contributes to an understanding of Jesus in the New Testament that is persons-centred. It highlights how different biblical characters help shape the stories that have come down to us. This book provokes thoughts for further research on other biblical figures and themes. It is an invaluable resource for catechists, pastoral workers, evangelizers and for instructions in Houses of Formation, particularly in furthering the ministry of the Word Made Flesh, who dwells among us.