A political crisis erupts when the Persian government falls to fanatics, and a Jewish insider goes rogue, determined to save her people at all costs. God and Politics in Esther explores politics and faith. It is about an era in which the prophets have been silenced and miracles have ceased, and Jewish politics has come to depend not on commands from on high, but on the boldness and belief of each woman and man. Esther takes radical action to win friends and allies, reverse terrifying decrees, and bring God's justice into the world with her own hands. Hazony's The Dawn has long been a cult classic, read at Purim each year the world over. Twenty years on, this revised edition brings the book to much wider attention. Three controversial new chapters address the astonishingly radical theology that emerges from amid the political intrigues of the book.

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.

Covering the major monotheistic religions-Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-as well as selected Eastern religions and Baha'i, Zoroastrianism, and Mormonism, this cross-cultural book offers excerpts of sacred texts and interprets passages to enable a deeper understanding of these religious writings. Sacred Texts Interpreted: Religious Documents Explained gives readers the opportunity to examine-directly-the primary sources of different religions and to better understand these texts through expert commentary on selected passages. The interpretative material investigates the nature of sacred texts along with the relationship between sacred scripture and canon, and it explains why these sacred texts have enduring significance and influence. The author provides suggestions on how to read a sacred text before turning to the textual selections from 13 religious traditions arranged alphabetically, beginning with the Baha'i religion and ending with Zoroastrianism. Each chapter is devoted to the primary textual sources of a particular religious tradition and is prefaced by an introduction to the literature that places it within its historical and cultural heritage. The emphasis for each religion is on its foundational scriptures that are often considered sacred by its adherents. Readers will gain a much greater appreciation of how powerful religious texts have always been across human culture and throughout millennia-and of how religious thought and ideology have shaped daily life, built civilizations, inspired art and literature, and incited wars and violence. Guides readers through some of the most important religious texts in world history, providing significant interpretative material to help students understand the history and ideas within these writings Discusses the nature of a sacred text and suggests ways of reading a sacred text to more fully appreciate its significance Provides insightful comments from the editor that accompany the selected texts, explaining the context of passages to enhance readers' comprehension

Laced with brilliant insights, broad in its view of the interaction of culture and theology, this book gives new resonance to old and important questions about the meaning of the Bible.

We live in an era defined by a sense of separation, even in the midst of networked connectivity. As cultural climates sour and divisive political structures spread, we are left wondering about our ties to each other. Consequently, there is no better time than now to reconsider ideas of unity. In The Ethics of Oneness, Jeremy David Engels reads the Bhagavad Gita alongside the works of American thinkers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman. Drawing on this rich combination of traditions, Engels presents the notion that individuals are fundamentally interconnected in their shared divinity. In other words, everything is one. If the lessons of oneness are taken to heart, particularly as they were expressed and celebrated by Whitman, and the ethical challenges of oneness considered seriously, Engels thinks it is possible to counter the pervasive and problematic American ideals of hierarchy, exclusion, violence, and domination.