As the founder of Islam, a religion with over one billion followers, Muhammad is beyond all doubt one of the most influential figures in world history. But learning about his life and understanding his importance has always proven difficult, as our only source of knowledge comes from the biography of him written by his followers, the reliability of which has been questioned by Western scholars.…
In recent years, the disciplines of biblical studies and systematic theology have grown apart and largely lost the means of effective communication with one another. Unfortunately, this relational disconnect affects more than just these particular fields of study; it impacts the life of the church as a whole. The first St. Andrews Conference on Scripture and Theology brought leading biblical sc…
Eminent biblical scholar Michael D. Coogan offers here a wide-ranging and stimulating exploration of the Old Testament, illuminating its importance as history, literature, and sacred text. Coogan explains the differences between the Bible of Jewish tradition (the "Hebrew Bible") and the Old Testament of Christianity, and also examines the different contents of the Bibles used by Roman Cathol…
Exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity, and tracing its course over two millennia, Linda Woodhead provides a fresh, lively, and candid portrait of Christianity's past and present. Addressing topics including the competition for power between different forms of Christianity, the churches' use of power, and its struggles with modernity, this new edition includes up to…
Award-winning religious scholar Richard Bauckham here explores the historical figure of Jesus, evaluating the sources and showing that they provide us with good historical evidence for his life and teaching. To place Jesus in his proper historical context, as a Jew from Galilee in the early first century of our era, Bauckham looks at Jewish religion and society in the land of Israel under Roman…
The Church’s liturgical seasons are a study in change, especially during Lent and Easter. In this booklet, we focus on the dramatic changes in the life of Jesus—and on Lent’s insistent call to change our own lives. Jesus’ encounters with darkness and evil, including his betrayal and arrest and his death on the cross, attest to the reality of suffering in life, accepting what we must, an…
The authors comprehensively analyze all the available information regarding the ritual practices of Slavic pre-Christian religion that can be found in written medieval texts. After investigating every kind of reference to such practices, they offer a reconstruction of Slavic pre-Christian religion on the basis of these medieval testimonies. In doing so, they overcome the challenges presented by…
With the arrival of a so-called Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, Christian leaders gained the long-awaited tolerance of the empire. Christianity’s transition into the favored religious cult of the imperial household and Roman elite involved significant growing pains. The road to conformity was anything but smooth, as a series of controversial ecumenical councils demonstrated. I…
If you walk into the Ra?jara?j??varan ?iva temple in Ta?ipparamba, in the Ka???r district of northern Kerala, you will see many standard features: lush green lawns, old stone architecture, the occasional elephant munching on grass, low tiled roofs housing an array of deities that surround the main shrine. Having paid your respects to the various spirit…
International humanitarian law (IHL), now synonymous for many withjus inbello, is the branch of international law that governs the conduct of war. Eventhough the main instruments of IHL have been universally ratified, however,and IHL is perhaps the most effective means so far developed to limit theeffects of war, it is notoriously difficult to implement and enforce (Sassòli2007, 46–47; Bartl…