This book looks at the relationship between biblical Hebrew verbs and the passage of time in narrative. It offers a summary of previous studies and theories, and argues that one possible way of understanding the fundamental meanings of Hebrew verbs is by examining the role played by the four main verb forms in ordering time.

6 Ezra is a short, oracular writing that is included in the biblical Apocrypha as the final two chapters (chapters 15-16) of 4 Ezra or 2 Esdras. Cast as the words of God mediated through an unnamed prophet, the main part of the work sets forth predictions of impending doom for the world. It is reminiscent of, and stands in the tradition of, Jewish and Christian prophetic writings that enunciate God's woes and threats against a sinful humanity, and envisage imminent destruction on the earth as a result. 6 Ezra is also concerned to exhort a group of God's chosen people to remain faithful and resist sin in order to escape the impending destruction. There has never been a major study of 6 Ezra or even a complete critical edition of the book, and indeed little has been written about it since the nineteenth century. This book is designed to fill that gap, offering a detailed analysis of the text itself, and addressing the question of its social setting, provenance, date, religious affiliation, and recensional situation of the text. It will also serve to make this important text accesible to a wider audience, while laying the foundations for its further study.

This is a collection of essays drawn from Schwartz's previously published work in which he explores how each successive phase of Jewish literature has drawn upon and reimagined the previous ones. Arguing that there is a continuity in Jewish literature which extends from the biblical era to our own times, this collection serves as a useful guide to the history of that literature and its genres.

The concept of scripture as written religious text is re-examined in this close analysis of the traditions of oral use of the sacred writings of religions around the world. Pointing out the central importance of the oral and aural experience of religious texts in the life of religious communities of both Eastern and Western cultures, William Graham asserts the need for a different perspective on how scripture has been appropriated and used by the vast majority of all people who have been religious, most of whom could neither read nor write. Graham first probes the history of literacy, focusing on the prominent role of the written word in modern Western culture and its history in Western civilization. He then considers the unique case of scripture, examining the problems of communication of texts to illiterate or semi-literate religious communities, the various oral uses of scripture, and affective impact of the spoken holy word vis- a-vis the silently written page.

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.

First published in 2004, The Jewish Study Bible is a landmark, one-volume resource tailored especially for the needs of students of the Hebrew Bible. It has won acclaim from readers in all religious traditions. The Jewish Study Bible combines the entire Hebrew Bible-in the celebrated Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation-with explanatory notes, introductory materials, and essays by leading biblical scholars on virtually every aspect of the text, the world in which it was written, its interpretation, and its role in Jewish life. The quality of scholarship, easy-to-navigate format, and vibrant supplementary features bring the ancient text to life. This second edition includes revised annotations for nearly the entire Bible, as well as forty new and updated essays on many of the issues in Jewish interpretation, Jewish worship in the biblical and post-biblical periods, and the influence of the Hebrew Bible in the ancient world. It is presented in a high-quality leather binding.

Modern critical scholars divide the Pentateuch into distinct components, identifying areas of unevenness in the scriptural tradition, which point to several interwoven documents rather than one immaculate whole. While the conclusions reached by such critical scholarship are still matters of dispute, the inconsistencies which it has identified stand clearly before us and pose a serious challenge to the believer in divine revelation. How can a text marred by contradiction be the legacy of Sinai? How can there be reverence for holy scriptures that show signs of human intervention? David Weiss Halivni explores these questions, not by disputing the evidence itself or by defending the absolute integrity of the Pentateuchal words at all costs, but rather by accepting the inconsistencies of the text as such and asking how this text might yet be a divine legacy.Inconsistencies and unevenness in the Pentateuchal scriptures are not the discovery of modern textual science alone. Halivni demonstrates that the earliest stewards of the Torah, including some of those represented in the Bible itself, were aware of discrepancies within the tradition. From the Book of Chronicles through the commentaries of the Rabbis, sensitive readers have perceived maculations, which mitigate against the notion of an unblemished, divine document, and have responded to these maculations in different ways.Revelation Restored asserts that acknowledging and accounting for human intervention in the Pentateuchal text is not alien to the Biblical or Rabbinic tradition and need not belie the tradition of revelation. Moreover, it argues that through recognizing textual problems in the scriptures, as well as efforts to resolve them in tradition, we may learn not only about the nature of the Pentateuch itself but also about the ongoing relationship between its people and its source.

Imam Nawawi's commentary on Sahih Muslim is one of the most highly regarded works in Islamic thought and literature. Accepted by every sunni school of thought, and foundational in the Shaafi school, this text, available for the first time in English, is famed throughout the Muslim world. After the Qur'an, the prophetic traditions are the most recognised source of wisdom in Islam. Amongst the collected Hadith, Sahih Muslim is second only to the the collection of Imam Bukhari. With a commentary by Imam Nawawi, whose other works are amongst the most widely-read books on Islam, and translated by Adil Salahi, a modern scholar of great acclaim, this immense work, finally available to English readers, is an essential addition to every Muslim library, and for anybody with an interest in Islamic thought.

A complete introduction to Sanatana Dharma, the spiritual science of the Hindu sages
- Examines how many core concepts of Hinduism, including Brahman, Atman, bhakti, karma, and reincarnation, relate to modern science
- Explores the scientific discoveries of the rishis, ancient Vedic sages, and how they have only recently been rediscovered by Western scientists
- Reveals the concepts of quantum physics hidden within the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Puranas
Called "the scientists of Hinduism," the rishis of ancient India were the scribes of the Vedas. They developed the spiritual science of Hinduism, Sanatana Dharma, as their way of ensuring the constant renewal and progress of India's spiritual tradition and culture. Sanatana Dharma permeates every aspect of Hindu culture, from religion to the arts to the sciences. Woven within its Vedic texts lie all of the essential concepts of quantum physics and other modern scientific discoveries.
Providing a complete introduction to the science of Sanatana Dharma, Vanamali reveals how the core concepts of Hinduism, including Brahman, Atman, bhakti, karma, and reincarnation, relate to modern science and how the scientific discoveries of the ancient rishis have been recently rediscovered by the West. She examines the scientific principles within the classic stories and texts of India, including the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Puranas. Within the teachings of the ancient Puranic sages and saints such as Valmiki and Vyasa and legendary physicians and mathematician-philosophers such as Aryabhatta and Varahamihir, the author reveals great scientific truths--not those believed by the ancient world, but truths still upheld by modern science, particularly quantum physics. She explores Desha and Kaala (Space and Time), Shankara and his philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, and the Hindu sciences of mathematics, astronomy, and Vedic astrology.
In illustrating the scientific basis of Hinduism and the discoveries of its sages, Vanamali provides a window into the depths of this most ancient spiritual way of life.

No work has informed Jewish life and history more than the Talmud. This unique and vast collection of teachings and traditions contains within it the intellectual output of hundreds of Jewish sages who considered all aspects of an entire people's life from the Hellenistic period in Palestine (c. 315 B.C.E.) until the end of the Sassanian era in Babylonia (615 C.E.). This volume adds the insights of modern talmudic scholarship and criticism to the growing number of more traditionally oriented works that seek to open the talmudic heritage and tradition to contemporary readers. These central essays provide a taste of the myriad ways in which talmudic study can intersect with such diverse disciplines as economics, history, ethics, law, literary criticism, and philosophy.

Contributors: Baruch Micah Bokser, Boaz Cohen, Ari Elon, Meyer S. Feldblum, Louis Ginzberg, Abraham Goldberg, Robert Goldenberg, Heinrich Graetz, Louis Jacobs, David Kraemer, Geoffrey B. Levey, Aaron Levine, Saul Lieberman, Jacob Neusner, Nahum Rakover, and David Weiss-Halivni.

Among the many challenges of translating the Qur'an are its unpredictable complexity, evocative associativity, and polysemy. For these reasons, as well as more demanding theological ones, most translations cut, compress, paraphrase, and invent freely. In this meticulously crafted translation of the Qur'an, A.J. Droge takes a different approach by revealing the Qur'an's distinctive idiom in a rendition that strives to remain as close as possible to the way it was expressed in Arabic. His goal has been to make the translation literal to the point of transparency, as well as to maintain consistency in the rendering of words and phrases, and even to mimic word order wherever possible. Originally published in 2013 in an edition with annotations, commentary and other scholarly apparatus, Droge's widely praised translation is presented here as a stand-alone text, with a new introduction, ideal for students and general readers alike.

Millions of people who cast the I Ching to find answers to their deepest questions refer to the classic Wilhelm/Baynes translation of the ancient Chinese divinatory text, The I Ching or Book of Changes, published by Princeton University Press. The I Ching Companion: An Answer for Every Question is a study guide to be used in conjunction with the Wilhelm/Baynes translation. The I Ching oracle has survived millennia exactly because of its elusive nature. It is replete with phrases and imagery that are unfamiliar to the Western mind. The text in itself tells many stories from ancient China, when the Chou overthrew the Shang dynasty, and contains every aspect of the human experience, both secular and spiritual. Richards has compiled a concordance of the primary symbols in the Wilhelm/Baynes text -- such as "to cross the great water", "furthering", the four directions, colors, "the great man", "the inferior man", and the "superior man" -- so that students of the I Ching can conduct their own study and gain their own understanding of how the changes described by the I Ching are connected in an eternal cycle of beginning, conflict, and resolution.

Richards offers detailed, yet easy-to-follow instructions for consulting the oracle. Drawing parallels between the body's chakras and the lines of a hexagram, she reveals an entirely new way in which the I Ching can be used as a tool for achieving emotional balance. The I Ching answers questions, and in so doing, peace of mind -- our life's quest -- is attained. This guide can help facilitate that quest.

Focusing on the Avestan and Pahlavi versions of the Sih-rozag, a text worshipping Zoroastrian divine entities, this book explores the spiritual principles and physical realities associated with them. Introducing the book is an overview of the structural, linguistic and historico-religious elements of the Avestan Sih-rozag. This overview, as well as reconstructing its approximate chronology, helps in understanding the original ritual function of the text and its relationship to the other Avestan texts.The book then studies the translation of the text in the Middle Persian language, Pahlavi, which was produced several centuries after its initial composition, when Avestan was no longer understood by the majority of the Zoroastrian community. Addressing the lacuna in literature examining an erstwhile neglected Zoroastrian text, The Sih-Rozag in Zoroastrianism includes a detailed commentary and an English translation of both the Avestan and Pahlavi version of the Sih-rozag and will be of interest to researchers and scholars of Iranian Studies, Religion, and History.

In the current political and social climate, there is increasing demand for a deeper understanding of Muslims, the Qur'an and Islam, as well as a keen demand among Muslim scholars to explore ways of engaging with Christians theologically, culturally, and socially. This book explores the ways in which an awareness of Islam and the Qur'an can change the way in which the Bible is read. The contributors come from both Muslim and Christian backgrounds, bring various levels of commitment to the Qur'an and the Bible as Scripture, and often have significantly different perspectives. The first section of the book contains chapters that compare the report of an event in the Bible with a report of the same event in the Qur'an. The second section addresses Muslim readings of the Bible and biblical tradition and looks at how Muslims might regard the Bible - Can they recognise it as Scripture? If so, what does that mean, and how does it relate to the Qur'an as Scripture? Similarly, how might Christian readers regard the Qur'an? The final section explores different analogies for understanding the Bible in relation to the Qur'an. The book concludes with a reflection upon the particular challenges that await Muslim scholars who seek to respond to Jewish and Christian understandings of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. A pioneering venture into intertextual reading, this book has important implications for relationships between Christians and Muslims. It will be of significant value to scholars of both Biblical and Qur'anic Studies, as well as any Muslim seeking to deepen their understanding of the Bible, and any Christian looking to transform the way in which they read the Bible.

Engagement with the Muslim world and Muslim people is inevitable for Christians. After all, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States. But what does the Qur'an really say about things like Jesus, war, and non-Muslims? What does the Bible say on these matters? If Christians are to engage in informed, loving conversation with their Muslim neighbors, they need to be equipped with more than the often-specious talking points they glean from the news or email forwards.
"Comparing the Qur'an and the Bible "offers readers an unprecedented collection of Scriptures and doctrines of both faiths presented side by side for easy study and comparison, covering such key issues as
Jesus
Abraham
creation
angels/jinn
jihad
the fall of humankind
predestination
ransom for sin/sacrifice
grace
rebirth
God/Allah
women
marriage and divorce
homosexuality
suicide
resurrection
judgment
Paradise
prayer
A brief explanation of each passage in the Qur'an and the Bible is given, as well as biblical answers to Islamic teaching. The book also motivates readers to have hearts for Muslims and seek to bring them to Christ, offering "door openers" to sharing the Good News. This indispensible collection will be treasured by anyone seeking to understand and engage their Muslim neighbors.

What do we know about the Book of Job? Not very much. The hero complains endlessly. He has just lost his children all his livestock. He scratches his ulcers. The misfortunes of which he complains are all duly enumerated in the prologue. They are misfortunes brought on him by Satan with God's permission. We think we know, but are we sure? Not once in the Dialogues does Job mention either Satan or anything about his misdeeds. Could it be that they are too much on his mind for him to mention them? Possibly, yet Job mentions everything else, and does much more than mention. He dwells heavily on the cause of his misfortune, which is none of those mentioned in the prologue. The cause is not divine, satanic nor physical, but merely human.

"The books line up on my shelf like bright Bodhisattvas ready to take tough questions or keep quiet company. They stake out a vast territory, with works from two millennia in multiple genres: aphorism, lyric, epic, theater, and romance."
--Willis G. Regier, "The Chronicle Review"

"No effort has been spared to make these little volumes as attractive as possible to readers: the paper is of high quality, the typesetting immaculate. The founders of the series are John and Jennifer Clay, and Sanskritists can only thank them for an initiative intended to make the classics of an ancient Indian language accessible to a modern international audience."
--"The Times Higher Education Supplement"

"The Clay Sanskrit Library represents one of the most admirable publishing projects now afoot. . . . Anyone who loves the look and feel and heft of books will delight in these elegant little volumes."
--"New Criterion"

"Published in the geek-chic format."
--"BookForum"

"Very few collections of Sanskrit deep enough for research are housed anywhere in North America. Now, twenty-five hundred years after the death of Shakyamuni Buddha, the ambitious Clay Sanskrit Library may remedy this state of affairs."
--"Tricycle"

aNow an ambitious new publishing project, the Clay Sanskrit Library brings together leading Sanskrit translators and scholars of Indology from around the world to celebrate in translating the beauty and range of classical Sanskrit literature. . . . Published as smart green hardbacks that are small enough to fit into a jeans pocket, the volumes are meant to satisfy both the scholar and the lay reader. Each volume has a transliteration of the original Sanskrit texton the left-hand page and an English translation on the right, as also a helpful introduction and notes. Alongside definitive translations of the great Indian epics -- 30 or so volumes will be devoted to the Maha-bharat itself -- Clay Sanskrit Library makes available to the English-speaking reader many other delights: The earthy verse of Bhartri-hari, the pungent satire of Jayanta Bhatta and the roving narratives of Dandin, among others. All these writers belong properly not just to Indian literature, but to world literature.a
--"LiveMint"

aThe Clay Sanskrit Library has recently set out to change the scene by making available well-translated dual-language (English and Sanskrit) editions of popular Sanskritic texts for the public.a
--"Namarupa"

The Book of Shalya recounts in gory detail the final destruction of the Kaurava army and the defeat of its leader, Dur-yodhana. In this first volume heroic duels and martial speeches abound as Shalya, the king of the Madras, is made general of the Kaurava army, only to be slaughtered in his turn.

The Book of Shalya recounts in gory detail the final destruction of the Kaurava army and the defeat of its leader, Duryodhana. In this first volume heroic duels and martial speeches abound as Shalya, the king of the Madras, is made general of the Kaurava army, only to be slaughtered in his turn.

Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation

For more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http: //www.claysanskritlibrary.org