Sacred Writings

By Pinchas Giller

By John Paraskevopoulos

Drawing on a wide-ranging collection of masters and scriptures, The body spray of Light provides a wealthy selection of passages that span the breadth of Buddhist suggestion around the a while. This anthology will stimulate readers, offering them with tough insights that visit the middle of the human situation and to our desire for religious liberation. It additionally unearths an aspect to Buddhism which may be surprising to many yet which represents the center of this custom as a colourful and residing religion with a lot to supply seekers within the glossy world.

"In this excellent assortment, John Paraskevopoulos has lovingly chosen passages that light up centuries of knowledge in Buddhist issues that cohere and mix into the good circulation of boundless compassion."
Professor Mark Unno, college of Oregon

"This anthology succeeds in bringing jointly an ideal compendium of inspirational quotations from all of the significant Buddhist traditions, demonstrating the energy of the Other-Power technique. The readings take us, in terms of 4 sections, from our present fact to our final target; with nice ability and readability, the writer introduces every one through giving the Buddhist context. This e-book should be a good significant other for our trip alongside the natural Land way."
Dr Kenneth Mullen, college of Glasgow

"Breaking clear of desiccated strategies of 'emptiness' and humanist reductionism, Paraskevopoulos bargains us not anything below an antidote to secularized Buddhism for contemporary audiences. this excellent anthology exudes the body spray of knowledge, attractiveness and devotion to turn out that, if phrases have any which means, Buddhism is certainly a religion."
Professor Patrick Laude, Georgetown college

By Isaac Kalimi

Kalimi catalogues and categorizes the suggestions through which the Israelite historical past in Samuel - Kings is reshaped within the biblical books of Chronicles. The chapters of this learn think about a few of the historiographical and literary adjustments present in the parallel texts of Chronicles. simply because approximately 1/2 the cloth in Chronicles is obtainable to us in different biblical assets, comparability of the literary and linguistic units utilized by the Chronicler is especially revealing. Kalimi considers the ways that the Chronicler has edited the fabric to be had to him, addressing such subject matters as: literary-chronological proximity, historiographical revision, completions and additions, several types of parallelism and literary units, etc. A convenient compendium of the ways that the Chronicler handled his fabric via one of many premiere students operating within the box.

By Arthur Goldwag

This vigorous, easy-to-follow consultant to Kabbalah introduces the traditional Jewish mystical culture that has captured the curiosity of Hollywood stars and most of the people alike.

With celebrities like Madonna, Paris Hilton, Demi Moore, and Britney Spears asserting their fascination with Kabbalah, interest approximately this old Jewish mystical culture keeps to develop. The Beliefnet® consultant to Kabbalah is a hugely informative, reader-friendly assessment of Kabbalah, whose messages Moses is related to have obtained from God on Mount Sinai. a suite of speculations at the nature of divinity, the construction, the origins and destiny of the soul, and the function of humans on this planet, Kabbalah’s which means and messages have inspired Jews, Christians, and others alike—and intrigued students for generations.

The Beliefnet® consultant to Kabbalah covers the necessities of Kabbalah’s historical past, sheds mild on what Kabbalists think (including their perspectives on angels and demons and at the afterlife), and gives directions on either conventional and modern meditative, devotional, mystical, and magical practices. Sidebars that includes key proof, anecdotes, and often requested questions upload to the book’s scope and charm.

From the superior resource of data on faith and spirituality, the Beliefnet® courses introduce you to the key traditions, leaders, and problems with religion on the planet at the present time.

By Alice Collett

The trail of perform as taught in old India via Gotama Buddha was once open to either men and women. The texts of early Indian Buddhism exhibit that girls have been lay fans of the Buddha and have been additionally granted the proper to ordain and develop into nuns. convinced girls have been often called influential academics of fellows and girls alike and regarded specialists in convinced points of Gotama's dhamma. For this to happen in an historical faith practiced inside conventional societies is admittedly particularly amazing. this can be obvious specially in gentle of the continuing difficulties skilled via practitioners of many faiths at the present time eager about demanding instilled norms and practices and conferring the prestige of any excessive place of work upon girls.

In this assortment, Alice Collett brings jointly a sampling of the plethora of Buddhist texts from early Indian Buddhism within which ladies determine centrally. it really is precise that there are unfavorable conceptualizations of and attitudes in the direction of ladies expressed in early Buddhist texts, yet for thus many texts pertaining to girls to were composed, collated and preserved is worthwhile of word. the straightforward proven fact that the Buddhist textual list names such a lot of nuns and laywomen, and preserves biographies of them, attests to a comparatively confident state of affairs for girls at the moment. With the prospective exception of the reverence accorded Egyptian queens, there's no textual checklist of named ladies from an historic civilization that comes with reference to that of early Indian Buddhism. This quantity bargains comparative research of texts in 5 various languages - Gandhari, Pali, Sanskrit, chinese language and Sinhala. every one bankruptcy is a examine and translation, with a few chapters focusing extra on translation and a few extra on comparisons among parallel and comparable texts, when others are extra discursive and thematic.

By Michael Hoffman

Judaism found represents painstaking examine in line with rigorous exam of all on hand exegetical assets. Deconstructing the rabbinic texts line via line, Michael Hoffman has came across a terra incognita: Orthodox Judaism because the ideological survival of the main ossified traditions of Babylonian paganism, hid underneath a posh process of dissimulation and misdirection. His unsparing thesis is an intensive problem to Judaism's claims to Biblical provenance and probity.
Hoffman brings to this tough task...a dedication to lengthy years of private learn and study that would commend this paintings to all critical readers...I have came upon his scholarship to be a hugely actual mirrored image of either the spirit and the content material of Talmudic writings... Robert Countess, PhD., Professor Emeritus of latest testomony, Tennessee country college

By Y. V. Koh

This research is worried with the literary style to which the publication of Qoheleth belongs and on which it truly is modelled. It covers a variety of facets of literary research and the matter of constructing feel of the booklet as an entire. It means that Qoheleth is better defined as a royal autobiography according to the arguments of particular literary good points of fashion and content material, resemblance to numerous different types of royal autobiographical narrative from in other places within the historical close to East, and the life of a coherent worldview which the writer provides because the fruit of his lifelong observations of the area.

By Marti J. Steussy

In David, Marti J. Steussy offers a severe exam of the guy who gets extra realization from the outdated Testament's writers than the other human personality. This quantity, written for the nonspecialist, explores the Hebrew Bible's 3 significant photos of David - present in 1 and a pair of Samuel, 1 Chronicles, and Psalms - and what each one implies in regards to the relation among divine and worldly energy.

By John F. Kutsko

With the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the exile of participants of the Israelite neighborhood to the land of its enemies, whose gods have been represented as divine statues, the prophet Ezekiel confronted a problem: the right way to reply to the enemies' name callings that Israel's God was once absent, while the foreigners' gods self-evidently have been current. therefore, to invite the query, "Where is God" was once to stand a number of complicated and tangled difficulties. How is God to be represented? How is Yahweh to be differentiated from different deities? what's Yahweh's dating to Israel in exile?

Kutsko units out to respond to those questions in the subject of divine presence and lack, relatively because it pertains to the kabod theology in Ezekiel. He exhibits that God's absence turns into, for Ezekiel, a controversy for his presence and gear, whereas the presence of idols indicated their absence and impotence. Ezekiel extends this proposition right into a corollary: God's presence isn't consigned to sanctuary, for God is a sanctuary. during this regard, absence from the Temple is a message of judgment and the precursor to a message of recovery. If God can develop into a sanctuary, his presence in exile turns into a message of victory even over imperial powers. This conceptualization of Yahweh, then, finally ends up defining the ability and place of Israel's God in distinctively common phrases. during this contribution, the booklet of Ezekiel performs a valuable and formerly unappreciated function within the improvement of Israelite theology, and monotheism particularly.

By Moshe Idel

During this prizewinning new interpretation of Jewish mysticism, Moshe Idel emphasizes the necessity for a comparative and phenomenological method of Kabbalah and its place within the historical past of faith. Idel offers clean insights into the origins of Jewish mysticism, the relation among mystical and ancient adventure, and the influence of Jewish mysticism on western civilization. "Idel's ebook is studded with significant insights, and cutting edge techniques to the total heritage of Judaism, and mastery of it will likely be crucial for all critical scholars of Jewish thought."-Arthur eco-friendly, manhattan occasions ebook assessment "Moshe Idel's unique, scholarly, and stimulating examine of Kabbalah includes the promise of a masterwork."-Elie Wiesel "Moshe Idel's booklet may help the nonspecialized reader to re-evaluate the entire of Kabbalistic culture compared to many elements of up to date thought."-Umberto Eco "There might be no dispute concerning the value and originality of Idel's paintings. delivering a wealth of complementary insights to Gershom Scholem and his university, it's going to command loads of realization and critical discussion."-Alexander Altmann