This book offers a novel approach for the study of law in the Judean Desert Scrolls, using the prism of legal theory. Following a couple of decades of scholarly consensus withdrawing from the "Essene hypothesis," it proposes to revive the term, and suggests employing it for the sectarian movement as a whole, while considering the group that lived in Qumran as the Yahad. It further proposes a new suggestion for the emergence of the Yahad, based on the roles of the Examiner and the Instructor in the two major legal codes, the Damascus Document and the Community Rule. The understanding of Essene law is divided into concepts and practices, in order to emphasize the discrepancy between creed, rhetoric, and practices. The abstract exploration of notions such as time, space, obligation, intention, and retribution, is then compared against the realities of social practices, including admission, initiation, covenant, leadership, reproof, and punishment. The legal analysis yields several new suggestions for the study of the scrolls: first, Amihay proposes to rename the two strands of thought of Jewish law, formerly referred to as "nominalism" and "realism," with the terms "legal essentialism" and "legal formalism." The two laws of admission in the Community Rule are distinguished as two different laws, one of an association for a group as a whole, the other as an admission of an individual. The law of reproof is proven to be an independent legal procedure, rather than a preliminary stage of prosecution. The methodological division in this study of thought and practice provides a nuanced approach for the study of law in general, and religious law in particular.

This collection of insights about The Book of Mormon adds to and complements the author's legal publications about freedom of conscience, evidence and comparative constitutional law. The book includes insights distilled from contemporary anthropology, careful analysis of the doctrine of resurrection taught in The Book of Mormon, philosophical questions about the rule of law which inform life in contemporary society, and how reflection on the pervasive New Testament intertexuality in The Book of Mormon should increase the knowledge of modern readers. Important reading for scholars of religion and faith, and particularly those interested in understanding the beliefs and practices of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world.

This volume addresses the interplay of hadith and ethics and contributes to examining the emerging field of hadith-based ethics. The chapters cover four different sections: noble virtues (makarim al-akhlaq) and virtuous acts (fada'il al-a'mal); concepts (adab, tahbib, 'uzla); disciplines (hadith transmission, gender ethics); and individual and key traditions (the hadith of intention, consult your heart, key hadiths). The volume concludes with a chronologically ordered annotated bibliography of the key primary sources in the Islamic tradition with relevance to understanding the interplay of hadith and ethics. This volume will be beneficial to researchers in the fields of Islamic ethics, hadith studies, moral philosophy, scriptural ethics, religious ethics, and narrative ethics, in addition to Islamic and religious studies in general. Contributors Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir, Nuha Alshaar, Safwan Amir, Khairil Husaini Bin Jamil, Pieter Coppens, Chafik Graiguer, M. Imran Khan, Mutaz al-Khatib, Salahudheen Kozhithodi and Ali Altaf Mian. . " " " ". . : : ( ) ( ) . . : . .

In Twelver Shi'a Islam, the wait for the return of the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Mahdi, at the end of time, overshadowed the value of actively seeking martyrdom. However, what is the place of martyrdom in Twelver Shi'ism today? This book shows that the Islamic revolution in Iran resulted in the marriage of Shi'i messianism and extreme political activism, changing the mindset of the Shi'a worldwide. Suddenly, each drop of martyrs' blood brought the return of al-Mahdi one step closer, and the Islamic Republic of Iran supposedly became the prelude to the foretold world revolution of al-Mahdi. Adel Hashemi traces the unexplored area of Shi'i discourse on martyrdom from the 1979 revolution-when the Islamic Republic's leaders cultivated the culture of martyrdom to topple the Shah's regime-to the dramatic shift in the understanding of martyrdom today. Also included are the reaction to the Syrian crisis, the region's war with ISIS and other Salafi groups, and the renewed commitment to the defense of shrines. This book shows the striking shifts in the meaning of martyrdom in Shi'ism, revealing the real relevance of the concept to the present-day Muslim world.

An ancient conversation for a modern audience - anyone who has ever asked 'what is the purpose of life? or 'who am I?' will find something in this book. The Bhagavad Gita has been around a long time, but remains little known outside India. This edition sets out to change that. The ancient Gita is a world text dealing with the mysteries of life. At its heart is a conversation between the soul and God. Ranchor Prime's version adopts a non-sectarian approach, making the Gita relevant to those of all religions or none, and emphasising the link between religion and self-development. It is distinguished by its easy accessibility. His section-by-section commentary opens the text to the spiritual seeker. He never loses sight of the audience for his book, and that he wants his readers to understand the Gita in a personal way.

This richly illustrated volume offers the most comprehensive and updated survey on about sixteen thousand Hebrew manuscript fragments reused as book-bindings and preserved in hundreds of libraries and archives in Italy. Contributions by the leading scholars in the field elucidate specific collections and genres no less than individual fragments, bringing to new life a forgotten library of medieval Jewish books, as almost 160 Talmudic codices, which include the Mishna, Tosefta, Palestinian Talmud and, for the most part, the Babylonian one, and several hitherto unknown texts. The contribution of these fragments to the ongoing research on the "European Genizah", as the Books within Books Project, and to Jewish Studies in general cannot be overestimated.

A completely new, expanded edition of this classic college text book about two key kinds of writing in the Old Testament: wisdom and law. Completely revised and updated, the book also includes much more on literary interpretation. This book is intended for primarily aimed at college students studying the Old Testament, on religious studies courses.

Divine Covenant explores the Qur'anic concept of divine knowledge through scientific, theoretical paradigms - in particular natural law theory - and their relationship with seven Islamic scholarly disciplines: linguistics, hadith, politics, history, exegesis, jurisprudence, theology. By comparing scholarship within these disciplines with current state-of-the-art, the study shows how the Qur'anic concept of divine Covenant reflects natural law theory, relates to a range of other legal, political, and linguistic Qur'anic concepts, informs the canon's entire literary structure, and has implications for a new, legal theory of 'Islamic origins'. The book makes the case that the Islamic disciplines share political economy, institutional framework, and decisive theoretical topics with the Qur'an. The latter include the natural law-related issues of human rights, constitutional separation of powers, and social contract. The book surveys the scholarly deliberations of these topics within the parameters of each discipline and in changing contexts. In addition, consequences of the modern nation-state institutional order for early modern and contemporary Qur'anic studies are mapped. It is argued that the early and medieval Islamic disciplines offer scientifically valuable knowledge because they refer to the same institutional framework as the Qur'an. The disciplines are also important parts of European political history, where they have inspired social contract theory inclusive of diverse religious identities.

This is a unique, one-of-a-kind compilations of missing Gospels translated from the original Hebrew Ethiopic texts, featuring:

The Missing Acts and History of Peter, Paul, John, James, Andrew, Thomas and many more.

The Martyrdoms of the 12 Apostles

The Ascension of St. John

The Genealogy of the 12 Apostles

The Meanings of the Names of the Apostles and more

You will learn about the lives of the Apostles as they ministered the Gospel as was ordered by Yashua Ha' Mashiakh. Includes color coded precepts, a Hebrew/English name concordance, numerous spiritual commentaries and beautifully vivid and detailed full black and white photographs, charts and study tools to enhance your learning. A must have for a true Disciple of Yashua.

Through the application of scientific methods of analysis to a corpus of medieval manuscripts found in the Cairo Genizah, this work aims to gain a better understanding of the writing materials used by Jewish communities at that time, shedding new light not only on the production of manuscripts in the Middle Ages, but also on the life of those Jewish communities.