Aaron W. Hughes. The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. x, 273 pp.

AJS Review ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-169
Author(s):  
Kalman P. Bland
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
Ibn Sina ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Ibn Tufayl ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Narrative Poem

Three texts are scrutinized in this monograph: Hayy ibn Yaqzan (Alive son of Awake), the Epistle or philosophic “Recital” composed in Arabic prose by the Muslim sage ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980–1037); Hayy ben Meqitz, the closely related Hebrew poem composed by the Andalusian Jewish sage Abraham ibn Ezra (1089–1164); and Hayy ibn Yaqzan, the more loosely related Arabic treatise composed by the Andalusian Muslim sage Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl (1116–1185). Each of the texts is well known to specialists in medieval intellectual history. Editions and critical discussions abound, almost all of them listed in the bibliography (pp. 245-65). The Arabic texts have long been accessible in reliable English translations. Thanks to Aaron W. Hughes, the same can now be said for ibn Ezra's less familiar narrative poem. In the appendix (pp. 189–207), the poem is rendered into English based on the original Hebrew text published in 1983 by Israel Levin. The translation is enhanced by references to the biblical idioms employed by ibn Ezra who ingeniously transformed ibn Sina's profoundly Islamic original into an equally stunning Hebrew gem.

Collected Essays

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haym Soloveitchik
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Methodological Study ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Jewish Intellectual ◽  
Hasidei Ashkenaz

Continuing the contribution to medieval Jewish intellectual history, this book's author focuses here on the radical pietist movement of Ḥasidei Ashkenaz and its main literary work, Sefer Ḥasidim, and on the writings and personality of the Provençal commentator Ravad of Posquières. In both areas the author challenges mainstream views to provide a new understanding of medieval Jewish thought. Some of the essays are revised and updated versions of work previously published, and some are entirely new, but in all of them the author challenges reigning views to provide a new understanding of medieval Jewish thought. The section on Sefer Ḥasidim brings together over half a century of the author's writings on German Pietism, many of which originally appeared in obscure publications, and adds two new essays. The first of these is a methodological study of how to read this challenging work and an exposition of what constitutes a valid historical inference, while the second reviews the validity of the sociological and anthropological inferences presented in contemporary historiography. In discussing Ravad's oeuvre, the author questions the widespread notion that Ravad's chief accomplishment was his commentary on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah; his Talmud commentary, he claims, was of far greater importance and was his true masterpiece. He also adds a new study that focuses on the acrimony between Ravad, as the low-born genius of Posquières, and R. Zeraḥyah ha-Levi of Lunel, who belonged to the Jewish aristocracy of Languedoc, and considers the implications of that relationship.

scholarly journals Hope for the Future of New Testament Theology

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 975
Author(s):  
Rodney K. Duke
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
First Century ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
The Future ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Original Audience ◽  
Century Thought

This paper presents the author’s hope for changes in New Testament (NT) theology particularly as currently experienced in American Christian culture. Those changes are based on exegetical work that seeks to place the NT texts into their Jewish first-century thought world. The first part of the paper presents examples of theological concepts that have crept into NT exegesis, translations, and Christian thinking, concepts that appear to be foreign to or contrary to that original-audience thought world. The second part of the article seeks to present a reading of Rom 3:21–26 that better represents Paul’s thinking than what is found in some English translations that read the text through the lenses of some of the foreign concepts mentioned in Part 1. The resulting vision for the future of NT theology is twofold: for NT theologies to self-critically rid themselves of the infiltration of foreign concepts, and for the field to better ground its work in exegesis and translations that better respect the Jewish thought world of the texts.

The Iraqi spectres of Marx

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhsin J. Al-Musawi
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Emancipation ◽  
Narrative Poem ◽  
Intelligence Service ◽  
Shed Light

This reading attempts to trace the awareness and mention of Marx in Iraqi writing, focusing on some signposts that also shed light on the intellectual history of Iraq since 1914. It argues its case through an exploration of texts and recollections to present another side of this history as a controversial narrative of multiple positions and contentions. If the spectre of Marx shocked conservatives and was widely manipulated in Cold War politics, its theoretical permeation of an Iraqi discourse of social justice cannot be ignored. Almost every Iraqi narrative, poem, or essay speaks of the need for equitable balance of power, social justice, and social and political emancipation. To have these concerns materialize, there has been a need for some organized forum, a party, society, or a forum. British intelligence service began to trace the specters of Marx early on, and held all, even nationalists, suspect. The trepidations of the Empire were well conveyed in the reports of its agents in Iraq.

An Ecocentric Reading of אמת‎, חסד‎, and דעת אלהים‎ in Hosea 4.1-6

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-360
Author(s):  
Olugbemiro O. Berekiah
Keyword(s):  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Human Relationship ◽  
The Earth ◽  
English Translations

Many critics have blamed the current ecological crisis on an interpretation of the biblical text that legitimates human abuse of the earth’s resources, through a misconstruction of the human relationship with the rest of the created order. The Hebrew text of Hosea 4.1-6 documents a tacit knowledge of the consequence of human action on the ecosystem, evidence that has been eclipsed in various English translations due to the contextual gap between the text and the English recipient. This paper attempts a reconstruction of the Hebrew text, and undertakes a fresh translation that exposes the cosmological underpinnings of the text. The passage is then interpreted from an ecocentric perspective in a synchronic reading with other passages. This reveals an awareness of an intricate relationship among humanity, the earth, and non-human inhabitants of the earth, a relationship that Hosea describes with the terms אמת‎, חסד‎, and דעת אלהים‎.

scholarly journals Critical Evaluation of Avicennian Cardiac Drugs in the Contemporary Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 257
Author(s):  
Syed Ziaur Rahman ◽  
SM Mubashir ◽  
SH Zahid Jamal
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Medical Work ◽  
Ibn Sina ◽  
Critical Editions ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Clinical Utilization ◽  
Almost All

Lots of clinical and experimental research work had been done to screen the cardiac drugs mentioned by Ibn Sina (980-1037) for their efficacy and safety. Similarly, annotated bibliography of his other works such as major philosophical work (Kitab Shifâ), major medical work (Qanun fil Tibb), minor collective works on logics, poetry, physics, psychology, chemistry-magic, mathematics, music, astronomy, metaphysics, Quranic exegesis, mysticism, ethics, politics, prophecy, etc. and critical editions in almost all languages had been prepared and arranged, which includes publications and references in all major languages. But, to the best of our knowledge, no critical descriptive study has ever been done so far to evaluate the scientific report on all 63 cardiac drugs mentioned in his another famous work, Kitab-al Advia Al Qalbia. There is a need to comment on these drugs on the basis of clinical and experimental study regarding the utility of Ibn Sina’s cardiac drugs. Some of these drugs could be found safe without any reported adverse reactions. Such drugs with safe profile need to be further explored, to select promising and accessible drugs. If toxic effects are reported, then the flagging of such drugs and its present position in clinical utilization should be delineated. The present paper deals and discusses the cardiac drugs described by Ibn Sina in the contemporary research after extensive literature review and meta-analysis. The present work, therefore, provides a useful resource to enable a thorough assessment of the profile of Ibn Sina’s Cardiac drugs that have cardioprotective activity.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 04 No. 04 October’20 Page : 257-266

scholarly journals Natural Treatments for Fissure in Ano Used by Traditional Persian Scholars, Razi (Rhazes) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Reza Derakhshan
Keyword(s):  
Anal Fissure ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
In Vivo Studies ◽  
Lifestyle Modifications ◽  
Fissure In Ano ◽  
Ibn Sina ◽  
Almost All

Most cases of chronic fissure do not respond to medical treatment. Razi and Ibn Sina were 2 of the best-known scientists of ancient Persia. The purpose of this study was to find out new scientific evidence in modern medicine about their recommendations, in order to find certain clues to conduct useful researches in the future. First, treatments of anal fissure mentioned by Razi and Ibn Sina were reviewed. Then, literature search was made in electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Management of anal fissure according to Razi’s and Ibn Sina’s practices is done based on 3 interventions: lifestyle modifications, drug treatments, and manual procedures. Almost all remedies suggested by Razi and Ibn Sina have shown their effects on fissure in ano via several mechanisms of action in many in vitro and in vivo studies; Still there is lack of human studies on the subject.

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