Customs And Controversies

When the New Testament authors wrote their inspired documents, they assumed that their readers were familiar with the customs and controversies of the Jewish tradition. Modern-day readers, however, do not have the luxury of intuitively knowing what the original readers knew. In Customs and Controversies Julius Scott adeptly surveys this body of knowledge. Scott makes readily available what scholarly research and recent archaeology have to tell us about Intertestamental Judaism. He presents up-to-date information on the efforts to reconstruct Old Testament institutions, the scribal traditions, the religious sects (including the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the community of Qumran), as well as Judaism's thinking on such matters as the final age, the kingdom of God, the messianic hope, and the Gentiles.

Sequel to 'Smugglers and Sailors', this second volume in a two-volume history of the Australian Customs Service deals with events from 1901 onwards. Based on departmental archives and interviews with serving and retired customs officers, it discusses topics such as tariffs, censorship and drug detection. Traces the impact of the Customs Service on the development of Australian society and places it in historical context. Includes references, a bibliography and an index. A hardcover edition is also available. The author is Keith Cameron, professor of Australian history at University College, Dublin. His other books include 'Menzies and Churchill at War' and 'Reluctant Nation'. Special leatherbound edition.

The Rites Controversies in the Early Modern World is a collection of articles focusing on debates concerning the nature of “rites” raging in intellectual circles of Europe, Asia and America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Controversy is the main instrument by which Judaism develops and shapes its philosophy, theology and law. The rabbinical literature speaks with many voices, debating virtually every subject, and failing to reach a consensus on many. However, this willingness to condone controversy is accompanied by much deliberation. Controversy, and its legal, philosophical and social ramifications, was and remains of unparalleled concern to the rabbis. Today, we are also witness to a burgeoning academic interest in controversy and pluralism in Jewish law. This book is an anthology of passages from the rabbinical literature that address the phenomenon of controversy in Jewish law, affording the English-speaking reader the opportunity for a first-hand encounter with this fascinating material. An extensive analytical introduction contextualizes the material from a philosophical perspective. For more information, please visit www.controversy-dialogue.org.