The ninth volume of this edition, translation, and commentary of the Jerusalem Talmud contains two Tractates. The first Tractate, "Documents", treats divorce law and principles of agency when written documents are required. Collateral topics are the rules for documents of manumission, those for sealed documents whose contents may be hidden from witnesses, the rules by which the divorced wife can collect the moneys due her, the requirement that both divorcer and divorcee be of sound mind, and the rules of conditional divorce. The second Tractate, "Nazirites", describes the Nasirean vow and is the main rabbinic source about the impurity of the dead. As in all volumes of this edition, a (Sephardic rabbinic) vocalized text is presented, with parallel texts used as source of variant readings. A new translation is accompanied by an extensive commentary explaining the rabbinic background of all statements and noting Talmudic and related parallels. Attention is drawn to the extensive Babylonization of the Gittin text compared to genizah texts.

Be Equipped to Interact More Fruitfully and Thoughtfully with Muslims The Quran with Christian Commentary offers a unique introduction to the primary religious text of Islam. Alongside a precise modern English translation of the Quran, author Gordon D. Nickel provides in-text notes to explain the meaning of various surahs (chapters) and ayat (verses), their interpretive history and significance in Muslim thought, and similarities and differences when compared to biblical passages. Additional articles on important topics are written by an international team of today's leading experts including: Abraham in the Quran by George Bristow Early Christian Exegesis of the Quran by J. Scott Bridger Tampering with the Pre-Islamic Scriptures by Gordon Nickel Salvation in the Quran by Peter Riddell Fighting and Killing in the Quran by Ayman S. Ibrahim Creation in the Quran by Jon Hoover Calling to Islam (da'wa) by Matthew Kuiper Apocryphal Details in Quranic Stories by Mateen Elass The Death of Jesus in the Quran by Gordon Nickel Son of God in the Quran by Gordon Nickel Jihad in the Quran by David Cook Moses in the Quran by Gordon Nickel Manuscripts of the Quran by Daniel A. Brubaker Women in the Quran by Linda Darwish The Place of the Scale(s) in the Reckoning by Daniel A. Brubaker Divine Punishment of Unbelievers in This World by David Marshall Shi'ite Interpretation of the Quran by Linda Darwish The Language of Love in the Quran by Gordon Nickel Allah in the Quran by Mark Anderson Eschatology in the Quran by David Cook Factual, respectful of Muslims, and insightful on issues about which Muslims and Christians disagree, The Quran with Christian Commentary equips Christians to interact more fruitfully with Muslim believers. Professors and students in courses on Islam and the Quran will find this to be an invaluable resource, as will pastors and missionaries who minister among Muslims. Written at a readable level, any Christian who wants to learn more about Islam and the Quran will find it to be a rich and informative introduction.

One of India's greatest epics, the Ramayana pervades the country's moral and cultural consciousness. For generations it has served as a bedtime story for Indian children, while at the same time engaging the interest of philosophers and theologians. Believed to have been composed by Valmiki sometime between the eighth and sixth centuries BC, the Ramayana tells the tragic and magical story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, an incarnation of Lord Visnu, born to rid the earth of the terrible demon Ravana. An idealized heroic tale ending with the inevitable triumph of good over evil, the Ramayana is also an intensely personal story of family relationships, love and loss, duty and honor, of harem intrigue, petty jealousies, and destructive ambitions. All this played out in a universe populated by larger-than-life humans, gods and celestial beings, wondrous animals and terrifying demons. With her magnificent translation and superb introduction, Arshia Sattar has successfully bridged both time and space to bring this ancient classic to modern English readers.

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Qur'anic Hermeneutics argues for the importance of understanding the polysemous nature of the words in the Qur'an and outlines a new method of Qur'anic exegesis called intertextual polysemy. By interweaving science, history and religious studies, Abdulla Galadari introduces a linguistic approach which draws on neuropsychology. This book features examples of intertextual polysemy within the Qur'an, as well as between the Qur'an and the Bible. It provides examples that intimately engage with Christological concepts of the Gospels, in addition to examples of allegorical interpretation through inner-Qur'anic allusions. Galadari reveals how new creative insights are possible, and argues that the Qur'an did not come to denounce the Gospel-which is one of the stumbling blocks between Islam and Christianity-but only to interpret it in its own words.

A concise and illuminating portrait of Allah from one of the world's leading Qur'anic scholars The central figure of the Qur'an is not Muhammad but Allah. The Qur'an, Islam's sacred scripture, is marked above all by its call to worship Allah, and Allah alone. Yet who is the God of the Qur'an? What distinguishes the qur'anic presentation of God from that of the Bible? In this illuminating study, Gabriel Said Reynolds depicts a god of both mercy and vengeance, one who transcends simple classification. He is personal and mysterious; no limits can be placed on his mercy. Remarkably, the Qur'an is open to God's salvation of both sinners and unbelievers. At the same time, Allah can lead humans astray, so all are called to a disposition of piety and fear. Allah, in other words, is a dynamic and personal God. This eye-opening book provides a unique portrait of the God of the Qur'an.

How the rabbis of the Talmud transformed Jewish law into a way of thinking and talking about everything Typically translated as "Jewish law," halakhah is not an easy match for what is usually thought of as law. This is because the rabbinic legal system has rarely wielded the political power to enforce its rules, nor has it ever been the law of any state. Even more idiosyncratically, the talmudic rabbis claim the study of halakhah is a holy endeavor that brings a person closer to God-a claim no country makes of its law. Chaim Saiman traces how generations of rabbis have used concepts forged in talmudic disputation to do the work that other societies assign not only to philosophy, political theory, theology, and ethics but also to art, drama, and literature. Guiding readers across two millennia of richly illuminating perspectives, this panoramic book shows how halakhah is not just "law" but an entire way of thinking, being, and knowing.

When Near Becomes Far explores the representations and depictions of old age in the rabbinic Jewish literature of late antiquity (150-600 CE). Through close literary readings and cultural analysis, the book reveals the gaps and tensions between idealized images of old age on the one hand, and the psychologically, physiologically, and socially complicated realities of aging on the other hand. The authors argue that while rabbinic literature presents a number of prescriptions related to qualities and activities that make for good old age, the respect and reverence that the elderly should be awarded, and harmonious intergenerational relationship, it also includes multiple anecdotes and narratives that portray aging in much more nuanced and poignant ways. These anecdotes and narratives relate, alongside fantasies about blissful or unnoticeable aging, a host of fears associated with old age: from the loss of physical capability and beauty to the loss of memory and mental acuity, and from marginalization in the community to being experienced as a burden by one's children. Each chapter of the book focuses on a different aspect of aging in the rabbinic world: bodily appearance and sexuality, family relations, intellectual and cognitive prowess, honor and shame, and social roles and identity. As the book shows, in their powerful and sensitive treatments of aging, rabbinic texts offer some of the richest and most audacious observations on aging in ancient world literature, many of which still resonate today.

What is justice? How can it be realised within society? These are universal concerns and are central to the primary scripture of Islam, the Qur'an. Utilising a pioneering theological and hermeneutic framework adapted from both classical Muslim literature and contemporary academic studies of the Qur'an, Ramon Harvey explores the underlying principles of its system of social justice. Dividing his book into four parts, he covers Qur'anic Ethics, Political Justice (politics, peace, war), Distributive Justice (fair trade, alms, marriage, inheritance) and Corrective Justice (public and private crimes). His reading of the Qur'an reconstructs the text as normatively engaging these spheres of justice in their socio-historical context and lays the foundations for future contemporary articulations of Qur'anic ethics.

Dead Sea: New Discoveries in the Cave of Letters is a multidisciplinary study of the Cave of Letters in the Nahal Hever of the Judean desert, a site reputed for having contained the most important finds evidencing the Bar Kokhba revolt, including the cache of bronzes found buried there and the papers of Babatha, one of the few direct accounts of the context of the Bar Kokhba revolt in the second century CE. Chapters by diverse scholars report on and discuss the ramifications of the 1999-2001 expedition to the site, the first organized archaeological activity there since the expeditions at Nahal Hever by Yigal Yadin in 1960-1961. Using advanced technological methodologies alongside more "traditional" archaeological techniques, the team explored several research hypotheses. The expedition sought to determine whether the material collected in the cave could substantiate the hypothesis that the cave was a place of refuge during both the Bar Kokhba revolt and the earlier Great Revolt against the Roman Empire. The expedition also researched the viability of a relatively long-term occupation of the cave while under siege by Roman forces, questioning whether occupants would have been able to cook, sleep, etc., without severely degrading the cave environment as a viable place for human habitation. The individual chapters represent the result of analysis by scholars and scientists on different aspects of the material culture that the expedition uncovered.

In "Conceiving Israel," Gwynn Kessler examines the peculiar fascination of the rabbis of late antiquity with fetuses--their generation, development, nurturance, and even prenatal study habits--as expressed in narrative texts preserved in the Palestinian Talmud and those portions of the Babylonian Talmud attributed to Palestinian sages. For Kessler, this rabbinic speculation on the fetus served to articulate new understandings of Jewishness, gender, and God. Drawing on biblical, Christian, and Greco-Roman traditions, she argues, the rabbis developed views distinctive to late ancient Judaism.Kessler shows how the rabbis of the third through sixth centuries turned to non-Jewish writings on embryology and procreation to explicate the biblical insistence on the primacy of God's role in procreation at the expense of the biological parents (and of the mother in particular). She examines rabbinic views regarding God's care of the fetus, as well as God's part in determining fetal sex. Turning to the fetus as a site for the construction of Jewish identity, she explicates the rabbis' reading of "famous fetuses," or biblical heroes-to-be. If, as they argue, these males were born already circumcised, Jewishness and the covenantal relation of Israel to its God begin in the womb, and the womb becomes the site of the ongoing reenactment of divine creation, exodus, and deliverance. Rabbinic Jewish identity is thus vividly internalized by an emphasis on the prenatal inscription of Jewishness; it is not, and can never be, merely a matter of external practice.

Part 1 is a comprehensive study of the Qur'anic data about each prophet, with a full portrait of every figure and dealing also with all the major scholarly literature on the subject and with the Qur'anic concept of prophetology. Part 2 is a history and study of the general Muslim literature dealing with the prophets.

Traditionally, the Talmud was read as law, that is, as the authoritative source for Jewish practice and obligations. To this end, it was studied at the level of its most minute details, with readers often ignoring the composite whole. Methods of reading have shifted as more readers have turned to the Talmud for evidence of rabbinic history, religion, rhetoric, or anthropology; still, few have employed a genuinely literary approach. In Reading the Rabbis, Kraemer attempts to fill this gap by developing a method for reading the Talmud as literature. He draws on the tools developed in the study of other literatures, particularly rhetorical and reader-response criticisms, to unearth previously unnoticed levels of meaning. The result is that readers will gain a new understanding of the complexity of Rabbinic Judaism, and a new model of rabbinic piety.

Auf der Grundlage neu entdeckter Dokumente wird die Biographie des aus einer Converso-Familie stammenden Kabbalisten Abraham Cohen de Herrera alias Alonso Nunez de Herrera (gest. 1635 in Amsterdam) im Kontext seiner spanisch verfassten Neuinterpretation der lurianischen Kabbala rekonstruiert. Im Mittelpunkt stehen seine wichtigsten Lebensstationen und die Adaption italienischer Renaissance-Philosophie, die Herrera in ein eigenes Konzept humanistischer Bildung integriert, zu der auch die judische Tradition mit lurianischen Vorstellungen aus der Schule von Israel Saruq gehoert. Insbesondere wird Herreras Einfuhrung in Logik bzw. Dialektik berucksichtigt und die These aufgestellt, dass er nicht nur als Begrunder der metaphorischen Interpretation lurianischer Symbole gelten, sondern sein spezifischer Zugang auf dem Hintergrund seiner Lebenserfahrung und Ausbildung als "humanistische Kabbala" auf den Begriff gebracht werden kann. In der Geschichte der judischen Mystik ist diese Verhaltnisbestimmung von Philosophie und Kabbala mit humanistisch-padagogischer Intention singular. Erstmals wird auch Herreras Einfluss auf die christliche Geistesgeschichte durch Christian Knorr von Rosenroths Kabbala denudata in vollem Umfang gewurdigt.

This Norton Critical Edition is based on a revised and annotated version of the Pickthall translation of the Qur'an. Topics include the scholarly traditions of the study of qur'anic origins; the centuries of commentary, analysis and intellectual dissemination that have created a library of qur'anic literature; the history of translations; and the ways the Qur'an informs Muslim life and culture. Also included are texts representing the full spectrum of Islamic religious thought and a selected bibliography.

Dhammapada means "the path of dharma," the path of truth, harmony, and righteousness that anyone can follow to reach the highest good. Easwaran's translation of this classic Buddhist text is the best-selling edition in its field, praised by Huston Smith as a "sublime rendering." The introduction gives an overview of the Buddha's teachings that is penetrating and clear - accessible for readers new to Buddhism, but also with fresh insights and practical applications for readers familiar with this text. Chapter introductions place individual verses into the context of the broader Buddhist canon. Easwaran is a master storyteller, and his opening essay includes many stories that make moving, memorable reading, bringing young Siddhartha and his heroic spiritual quest vividly to life. But Easwaran's main qualification for interpreting the Dhammapada, he said, was that he knew from his own experience that these verses could transform our lives. This faithful rendition brings us closer to the compassionate heart of the Buddha.

This book investigates the manner in which the Qur'an and sunna depict female personalities in their narrative literature. Providing a comprehensive study of all the female personalities mentioned in the Qur'an, the book is selective in the personalities of the sunna, examining the three prominent women of ahl al-bayt; Khadija, Fatima, and Zaynab. Analysing the major sources of Imami Shi'i Islam, including the exegetical compilations of the eminent Shi'i religious authorities of the classical and modern periods, as well as the authoritative books of Shi'i traditions, this book finds that the varieties of female personalities are portrayed as human beings on different stages of the spiritual spectrum. They display feminine qualities, which are often viewed positively and are sometimes commendable traits for men, at least as far as the spiritual domain is concerned. The theory, particularly regarding women's humanity, is then tested against the depiction of womanhood in the hadith literature, with special emphasis on Nahj al-Balagha. Contributing a fresh perspective on classical materials, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic Studies, Women's Studies and Shi'i Studies.

The Jewish culture of the Hellenistic and early Roman periods established a basis for all monotheistic religions, but its main sources have been preserved to a great degree through Christian transmission. This Guide is devoted to problems of preservation, reception, and transformation of Jewish texts and traditions of the Second Temple period in the many Christian milieus from the ancient world to the late medieval era. It approaches this corpus not as an artificial collection of reconstructed texts-a body of hypothetical originals-but rather from the perspective of the preserved materials, examined in their religious, social, and political contexts. It also considers the other, non-Christian, channels of the survival of early Jewish materials, including Rabbinic, Gnostic, Manichaean, and Islamic. This unique project brings together scholars from many different fields in order to map the trajectories of early Jewish texts and traditions among diverse later cultures. It also provides a comprehensive and comparative introduction to this new field of study while bridging the gap between scholars of early Judaism and of medieval Christianity.