Development And Discontinuity In Jewish Law

Sandberg (rabbinics, Gratz College), ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, analyzes two divergent paths that Jewish law took as it proceeded from classical to medieval rabbinic sources in regard to such mitzvot (commandments/ good deed) as obeying Prophets, preserving trees, and corporeal punishment. Tables summarize the continuity/discontinuity development process of halakhic rulings on each mitzvah discussed. Indexed by biblical and rabbinic reference as well as subject. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The monograph focuses on the basic features of the legal systems of the Middle Eastern countries, land law in force in these countries, Islamic land and water law, Bedouin tribal land ownership, customary water rights. The monograph contains a description of the regime of property and land in Jewish law. The author analyzes the current state of land law in the Middle Eastern countries, including title to land, title to other natural resources, types of rights to land, correlation of formal law and conventional land tenure systems. For students, graduate students and teachers of law schools, employees of legislative, executive and judicial authorities, as well as for all those interested in issues of land, civil law and comparative jurisprudence.

An historical research into the life and death of Jesus Christ as described in the Christian Holy Bible. Examines early Gnostic, Jewish, Roman, Greek, Syrian and Christian historical sources, to give a near-comprehensive analysis of the subject, resulting in a genuine fresh look into the well studied topic. A meticulous review is made of what Josephus wrote about Jesus through critical analysis demonstrating why he must have written it. A similar examination is made of the Gnostic writings especially the Nag Hammadi gospel of Thomas, resulting in textual proof he wrote it after the Bible's gospels. The book should prove of great interest to those studying or reading the New Testament as it includes a summarised history of the Faith spanning from the present day to the first century, the origins of present day scepticism, introduction into manuscript preservation, and a glossary of theological terms and early Christian controversies.

This book examines biblical and rabbinic law as a coherent, continuing legal tradition. It explains the relationship between religion and law and the interaction between law and morality. Abundant selections from primary Jewish sources, many newly translated, enable the reader to address the tradition directly as a living body of law with emphasis on the concerns that are primary for lawyers, legislators, and judges. Through an in-depth examination of personal injury law and marriage and divorce law, the book explores jurisprudential issues important for any legal system and displays the primary characteristics of Jewish law. A Living Tree will be of special interest to students of law and to Jews curious about the legal dimensions of their tradition. The authors provide sufficient explanations of the sources and their significance to make it unnecessary for the reader to have a background in either Jewish studies or law.

“The extraordinary twists and turns of the spiritual journey of Elisheva Irma Diaz reflect and illumine the tumultuous era in which we live. The universally recognized border separating Judaism and Christianity is now a blur. Elisheva’s story shows that the insecurity that has ensued may also open us up to unimagined blessing.” — Rabbi Mark S. Kinzer, PhD, author of Jerusalem Crucified, Jerusalem Risen (2018), and Searching Her Own Mystery (2015) As powerfully quoted by Joseph Shulam in the foreword of this book, “There are medical books written by doctors who have researched, studied issues, and gained knowledge in their professional capacity. However, very few of these medical books were written by doctors who themselves have experienced the illness in their own bodies”. This author’s journey to reclaim her Sephardic Jewish heritage led her on an adventure that began in the early nineties with a full-time Christian ministry that eventually propelled her into a powerful ten-year insightful journey. She went from an ordained Pastor of Pastors with a successful ministry into Judaism and soon after her transition, enrolled herself in formal rabbinic studies and was ordained a Rabbi in 2012. Through this spiritual journey filled with intense study and spiritual experiences, she writes what some may think, but would most likely never say. She has further concluded without a shadow of a doubt that both Judaism and Christianity are broken but God has chosen to dwell in them both. She is quick to confess, “Christianity and Judaism broke my heart, yet, both Christianity and Judaism brought me closer to the knowledge of God”. Blessed be He!

The Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical & Post-Biblical Antiquity is a unique reference work that provides background cultural and technical information on the world of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament from 4000 BC to approximately AD 600. Also available as a 4-volume set (ISBN 9781619708617), this complete one-volume edition covers topics from A-Z. This dictionary casts light on the culture, technology, history, and politics of the periods of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Written and edited by a world-class historian and a highly respected biblical scholar, with contributions by many others, this unique reference work explains details of domestic life, technology, culture, laws, and religious practices, with extensive bibliographic material for further exploration. There are 115 articles ranging from 5-20 pages long. Scholars, pastors, and students (and their teachers) will find this to be a useful resource for biblical study, exegesis, and sermon preparation. This is not your standard Bible dictionary, but one that focuses on aspects of daily life in Bible times, addressing interesting and sometimes puzzling topics that are often overlooked in other encyclopedias. I highly recommend the Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical and Post-Biblical Antiquity and will be giving it shout-outs in my classes in the years to come. James K. Hoffmeier, Professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern Archaeology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School This wonderful resource is much more than a dictionary. It is a compendium of substantive essays on numerous facets of daily life in the ancient world. I am frequently asked by pastors and students for recommendations on books that illuminate the manners, customs, and cultural practices of the biblical world. Now I have the ideal set of books to recommend. Clinton E. Arnold, Dean and Professor of New Testament, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

Islam at 250: Studies in Memory of G.H.A. Juynboll is a collection of original articles on the state of Islamic sciences and Arabic culture in the early phases of their crystallization. It covers a wide range of intellectual activity in the first three centuries of Islam, such as the study of ḥadīth, the Qurʾān, Arabic language and literature, and history. Individually and taken together, the articles provide important new insights and make an important contribution to scholarship on early Islam. The authors, whose work reflects an affinity with Juynboll's research interests, are all experts in their fields. Pointing to the importance of interdisciplinary approaches and signalling lacunae, their contributions show how scholarship has advanced since Juynboll's days. Contributors: Camilla Adang, Monique Bernards, Léon Buskens, Ahmed El Shamsy, Maribel Fierro, Aisha Geissinger, Geert Jan van Gelder, Claude Gilliot, Robert Gleave, Asma Hilali, Michael Lecker, Scott Lucas, Christopher Melchert, Pavel Pavlovitch, Petra M. Sijpesteijn, Roberto Tottoli, and Peter Webb.

German Jews were fully assimilated and secularized in the nineteenth century—or so it is commonly assumed. In Jewish Scholarship and Culture in the Nineteenth Century, Nils Roemer challenges this assumption, finding that religious sentiments, concepts, and rhetoric found expression through a newly emerging theological historicism at the center of modern German Jewish culture. Modern German Jewish identity developed during the struggle for emancipation, debates about religious and cultural renewal, and battles against anti-Semitism. A key component of this identity was historical memory, which Jewish scholars had begun to infuse with theological perspectives beginning in the 1850s. After German reunification in the early 1870s, Jewish intellectuals reevaluated their enthusiastic embrace of liberalism and secularism. Without abandoning the ideal of tolerance, they asserted a right to cultural religious difference for themselves--an ideal they held to even more tightly in the face of growing anti-Semitism. This newly re-theologized Jewish history, Roemer argues, helped German Jews fend off anti-Semitic attacks by strengthening their own sense of their culture and tradition.