First Order: Zeraim / Tractates Terumot and Ma'serot is the forth volume in the edition of the Jerusalem Talmud, a basic work in Jewish Patristics. The volume presents the fundamental Jewish texts on obligatory gift to priests, and tithes to Levites, and the poor. In addition, it contains the main health regulations developed within Jewish ritual law, the rules of Jewish solidarity, and a discussion of the rules, taken for granted in the Babylonian Talmud, under which minute amounts of inadvertently added forbidden material may be disregarded.

Over three years of study and fellowship, sixteen Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars sought to answer one question: "Do our three scriptures unite or divide us?" They offer their answers in this book: sixteen essays on how certain ways of reading scripture may draw us apart and other ways may draw us, together, into the source that each tradition calls peace. Reading scriptural sources in the classical and medieval traditions, the authors examine how each tradition addresses the "other" within its tradition and without, how all three traditions attend to poverty as a societal and spiritual condition, and what it means to read scripture while facing the challenges of modernity. Ochs and Johnson have assembled a unique approach to inter-religious scholarship and a rare look at scriptural study as a pathway to peace.

Translated by Allan W. MahnkeA pioneering history of Old Testament law from its scarcely discernable origins in the pre-monarchical period to the canonisation of the Pentateuch.Praise for THE TORAH'Crusemann and Houtman has enormously enriched the field; it will attract the serious attention of scholars for many years to come.' B. S. Jackson, University of Manchester, Journal of Semitic Studies>

This sourcebook explores the most extensive tradition of Buddhist dharani literature and provides access to the earliest available materials for the first time: a unique palm-leaf bundle from the 12th-13th centuries and a paper manuscript of 1719 CE. The Dharanisamgraha collections have been present in South Asia, and especially in Nepal, for more than eight hundred years and served to supply protection, merit and auspiciousness for those who commissioned their compilation. For modern scholarship, these diverse compendiums are valuable sources of incantations and related texts, many of which survive in Sanskrit only in such manuscripts.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

Folktales about and exploration of the mystical meanings of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Weaving talmudic commentary, Hasidic folktales, and kabbalistic mysteries around the letters, each letter is illuminated and is presented in the author's original calligraphy.

The four volumes of this set bring together some of the most significant modern and pre-modern contributions to the study of the Islamic revelation, giving readers access to material that has hitherto been scattered and often difficult to locate. While the bulk of the material stems from the past fifty years, classic studies from earlier periods have been included, thus providing insight into the developmental dynamics of the field. Drawn from a wide range of journals, research monographs, occasional papers and edited volumes, the articles that make up this collection reflect the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of Koranic studies as it stands today. An extensive introduction at the beginning of the first volume draws together the four volumes and places each article in its broader context.

A study of the growth of Joshua and Judges illustrates how the theme of divine anger has been used differently, according to different historical and social settings. In the deuteronomistic texts the main reason for God's anger is idolatry, which symbolizes a totally negative attitude to everything that God has done or given to the Israelites. This theology of anger is deeply bound to experiences of national catastrophes or threats of crises, and reflects the theological enigma of the exile. A century later, post-deuteronomistic theology gives a wholly different view: the anger of God becomes an instrument of the power struggles between the Israelite parties, or is used for protecting existing leadership.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

Muslims believe that the Qur'an represents the words of God as revealed by the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad over a period of approximately twenty-three years, beginning in 610 AD, when he was forty, and concluding in 632 AD, the year of his death. All of it came from the mouth of one man. More people read the Quran than any other book ever written.This new edition of the book has been published to help Muslims not fluent in Arabic to understand the meaning of the words. It includes an English translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and a transliteration into Roman text by Abdul Haleem Eliyasee.However, it is important to remember at all times that the authoritative text is the Quran itself. These translations and transliterations are only intended to be helpful guides. They are not substitutes for the original.Every Muslim is required to read and understand the Quran to the extent of his ability. The words "To The Extent of his ability" is key. Obviously, a man who cannot speak Arabic and who is poorly educated will not be able to achieve the same level of understanding that a highly literate and educated native speaker of Arabic can. Nevertheless, even the poorly educated man must try to read and understand the actual words of the Quran. There is no Pope or supreme authority in Islam. Every man is his own authority. This is what Muslims believe.

Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer represents a late development in "midrash", or classical rabbinic interpretation, that has enlightened, intrigued and frustrated scholars of Jewish culture for the past two centuries. Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer's challenge to scholarship includes such issues as the work's authorship and authenticity, an asymmetrical literary structure as well as its ambiguous relationship with a variety of rabbinic, Islamic and Hellenistic works of interpretation. This cluster of issues has contributed to the confusion about the work's structure, origins and identity. Midrash and Multiplicity addresses the problems raised by this equivocal work, and uses Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer in order to assess the nature of "midrash", and the renewal of Jewish interpretive culture, during its transition to the medieval era of the early "Geonim".

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

This is a subset of the Sacred Books of the East Series which includes translations of all the most important works of the seven non-Christian religions which have exercised a profound influence on the civilizations of the continent of Asia. The works have been translated by leading authorities in their field.

This is a subset of F. Max Mullers great collection The Sacred Books of the East which includes translations of all the most important works of the seven non-Christian religions which have exercised a profound influence on the civilizations of the continent of Asia. The works have been translated by leading authorities in their field.