This is the fourth episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Jonathan Edwards and his theology of prayer as seen in both an essay he authored as well as a sermon, “The Most High, A Prayer Hearing God” preached in 1735. The complete five-part series includes a theology of…[Read more]

This is the third episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Martin Luther and his theology of prayer from select excerpts of his Large Catechism and Small Catechism. The complete five-part series includes a theology of prayer in the works of: Saint Augustine, Saint Francis…[Read more]

This is the second episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Saint Francis of Assisi and includes his controversial “Prayer to Animals”, his “Creation Prayer”, as well as his own theological interpretation of The Lord’s Prayer. The complete five-part series includes a…[Read more]

This article explores the nature of remembering as a lake, with a lake, or through a lake; the differential relationships, knowledge, and perspectives contained within; and the potentially troubling implications found at the intersection of scientific and humanistic perspectives on lake being. It also reflects on the totalizing nature of assuming…[Read more]

Drawing on archival research, this article introduces several Russian poems by the Arabic mahjar poet and writer Mikhail Naimy (Mīkhāʿīl Nu’aymah) (1889-1988) for the first time to scholarship. By examining the influence of Russian literature on Naimy’s literary output, we shed light on the role of multilingualism in generating literary identit…[Read more]

This article compares three key texts in Daghestani Islamicate literature by Persian Azeri writer Bākīkhānūf (d. 1847), Lezgi polymath al-Alqadārī (d. 1910), and Qumyq (Turkic) biographer al-Durgilī (d. 1935), with a view to understanding how their authors conceptualized their role as chroniclers of times past. I draw in particular on Italia…[Read more]

This is the first episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Saint Augustine’s work, known as “Letter 130” written in 412 A.D. to a Christian noblewoman on the subject of prayer. The complete five-part series includes a theology of prayer in the works of: Saint Augustine,…[Read more]

Review of said book.

Review of said book.

Kingship has been a political mainstay in human history, even when peoples have lacked monarchic rulers. This essay examines the book of Samuel as a source for the cultural history of ancient Judah, focusing on the question of how Samuel’s representations of monarchy would function for its readers in the early Second Temple era. In this era, w…[Read more]

This chapter focuses on Ezekiel as a text, i.e., a collection of writings meant to be read again and again. As a text, it presents a range of ideas in dialogue with one another—and sometimes in tension—thus providing ample space for continual discussion and reinterpretation of its ideas among its original communities of readers in antiquity. Eze…[Read more]

This chapter focuses on Ezekiel as a text, i.e., a collection of writings meant to be read again and again. As a text, it presents a range of ideas in dialogue with one another—and sometimes in tension—thus providing ample space for continual discussion and reinterpretation of its ideas among its original communities of readers in antiquity. Eze…[Read more]

This paper provides updated digital images of four Qurʾān fragments from Chicago’s Oriental Institute Museum (OIM) that appeared in Nabia Abbott’s Rise of the North Arabic Script, and calls attention to features of their paleography and vocalization which are not apparent from her original black-and-white plates. In doing so, it demonstrates tha…[Read more]

Public talk for International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden University (February 24, 2021) https://youtu.be/77oz4tb8r0Y How did Hindu devotees come to worship an Indian goddess in the ‘Chinese Way?’ What was allegedly Chinese about these rituals and how is this related to the goddess’s Buddhist origins? When did Hindus start to think of Ch…[Read more]

Since the discovery of the Laws of Hammurapi in December 1901–January 1902,1
the dependence of biblical law upon Mesopotamian law has been hotly debated. Among
the most contentious issues is the abjudication of homicide, and the discussion has focused
on particular odd cases in biblical law, such as an ox that gored or assault on a p…[Read more]

The completion of the editio princeps of the and fragments and manuscripts marks a watershed in the history of Qumran and Dead Sea Scrolls research. In addition to the DJD volumes, the recent update of the Leon Levy Digital Dead Sea Scrolls Library offers free access to its color images. These resources, among others, will continue to exist as…[Read more]

Ancient Near Eastern Law. The oldest documented law comes from the ancient Near East. The earliest legal texts come from about 2600 B.C.E., a few hundred years after the invention of writing, and they predate by millennia the documentation for law from the other early civilizations of China and India.

Amnesty and Reform Texts. Edicts of amnesty and reform decreed by a king intervened in economy and society, invalidating loans, pledges and sales, cancelling debts, and issuing behavioral instructions to government officials. They were dated to a specific time at which their provisions would come into effect.

Did Jesus Start a New Religion? No.

Pakistan’s religious leaders, ulama, have been put under significant strain in relation to how to deal with questions about the political tensions and violence over the past decade flowing from the Taliban’s role in the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The effects of this fraught environment on religious authority can be seen through the way…[Read more]