The French government's 2004 decision to ban Islamic headscarves and other religious signs from public schools puzzled many observers, both because it seemed to infringe needlessly on religious freedom, and because it was hailed by many in France as an answer to a surprisingly wide range of social ills, from violence against females in poor suburbs to anti-Semitism.
The story of one of the most compelling religious leaders of modern timesFrom the 1950s until his death in 1994, Menachem Mendel Schneerson-revered by his followers worldwide simply as the Rebbe-built the Lubavitcher movement from a relatively small sect within Hasidic Judaism into the powerful force in Jewish life that it is today.
On November 4, 1979, when students occupied the American Embassy in Tehran and subsequently demanded that the United States return the Shah in exchange for hostages, the deposed Iranian ruler's regime became the focus of worldwide scrutiny and controversy.
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, more than a quarter million Jewish survivors of the Holocaust lived among their defeated persecutors in the chaotic society of Allied-occupied Germany.
In Jewish Questions, Matt Goldish introduces English readers to the history and culture of the Sephardic dispersion through an exploration of forty-three responsa--questions about Jewish law that Jews asked leading rabbis, and the rabbis' responses.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, great new trends of Jewish thought emerged whose widely varied representatives--Kabbalists, philosophers, and astrologers--each claimed that their particular understanding revealed the actual secret of the Torah.
Guru English is a bold reconceptualization of the scope and meaning of cosmopolitanism, examining the language of South Asian religiosity as it has flourished both inside and outside of its original context for the past two hundred years.
Huston Smith, the author of the classic bestseller The World's Religions, delivers a passionate, timely message: The human spirit is being suffocated by the dominant materialistic worldview of our times.
In this thoroughly revised and updated edition, leading religion and Middle East expert Charles Kimball shows how all religious traditions are susceptible to these basic corruptions and why only authentic faith can prevent such evil.
There was no neutral response to the announcement that the "e;enforcer"e;Cardinal Joseph Ratzingerhad been elected Benedict XVI, the next pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
From a veteran journalist and former 60 Minutes producer comes an intimate portrait of evangelicals, one of the most influential forces in America today, and the story of how this lapsed believer came to terms with his faith.
Always wearing an easy smile, Hasidic rabbi Haskel Besser spreads joy wherever he goes, enriching the lives of his many friends and congregants with his profound understanding of both Orthodox Judaism and humannature.
Americas most elite commando unit, the US Navy SEAL Team Six pulled off one of the most remarkable covert operations in military history when they infiltrated the secret hideout of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in the dead of night and killed the hated terrorist mastermind.
The classic guide to the cultural and spiritual treasures of Judaism is now updated for the first time in 15 years to reflect changes in the modern Jewish community.
'An important contribution to our recent history' ANDREW MARR'Absorbing and important' JOAN BAKEWELL'One of my favourite reads of 2021' GARETH RUSSELLPoignant and inspiring, Women in the War tells the first-hand stories of ten of the last surviving female members of Britain's 'Greatest Generation'.
The former director of the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm makes his literary debut with this dramatic and riveting novel of book publishing, emigres, spies, and diplomats in World War II Sweden based on his grandfather's lifeIn 1933, after Hitler and the Nazi Party consolidated power in Germany, Immanuel Birnbaum, a German-Jewish journalist based in Warsaw, is forbidden from writing for newspapers in his homeland.
The Sunday Times Number One BestsellerJay Shetty, social media superstar and host of the #1 podcast 'On Purpose', distils the timeless wisdom he learned as a practising monk into practical steps anyone can take every day to live a less anxious, more meaningful life.
This ambitious study presents Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) as the most outstanding and influential thinker of modernity-and examines the question of whether he was the "e;first secular Jew.
How China is using the US-led war on terror to erase the cultural identity of its Muslim minority in the Xinjiang regionWithin weeks of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Chinese government warned that it faced a serious terrorist threat from its Uyghur ethnic minority, who are largely Muslim.
A wide-ranging look at the history of Western thinking since the seventeenth century on the purpose of the Jewish people in the past, present, and futureWhat is the purpose of Jews in the world?
A remarkable look at an understudied feature of the Iranian justice system, where forgiveness is as much a right of victims as retributionIran's criminal courts are notorious for meting out severe sentencesaccording to Amnesty International, the country has the world's highest rate of capital punishment per capita.
The life and times of a treasured book read by generations of Jewish families at the seder tableEvery year at Passover, Jews around the world gather for the seder, a festive meal where family and friends come together to sing, pray, and enjoy traditional food while retelling the biblical story of the Exodus.
The story of how Arab editors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries revolutionized Islamic literatureIslamic book culture dates back to late antiquity, when Muslim scholars began to write down their doctrines on parchment, papyrus, and paper and then to compose increasingly elaborate analyses of, and commentaries on, these ideas.
A compelling look at the Fatimid caliphate's robust culture of documentationThe lost archive of the Fatimid caliphate (909-1171) survived in an unexpected place: the storage room, or geniza, of a synagogue in Cairo, recycled as scrap paper and deposited there by medieval Jews.
From the recipient of the National Jewish Book Award for Lifetime Achievement, a "e;hugely entertaining and irreverent"e; (Adam Gopnik, New Yorker) account of the art of translating the Hebrew Bible into EnglishIn this brief book, award-winning biblical translator and acclaimed literary critic Robert Alter offers a personal and passionate account of what he learned about the art of Bible translation over the two decades he spent completing his own English version of the Hebrew Bible.
An exploration of the interdisciplinary methods used to understand religious practiceReligion is commonly viewed as something that people practice, whether in the presence of others or alone.
How parents approach the task of passing on religious faith and practice to their childrenHow do American parents pass their religion on to their children?
A revealing look at the Jewish American encounter with BuddhismToday, many Jewish Americans are embracing a dual religious identity, practicing Buddhism while also staying connected to their Jewish roots.
An integrative approach to Jewish and Muslim philosophy in al-AndalusAl-Andalus, the Iberian territory ruled by Islam from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, was home to a flourishing philosophical culture among Muslims and the Jews who lived in their midst.
An in-depth look at how Muslim American organizations address domestic violence within their communitiesIn Peaceful Families, Juliane Hammer chronicles and examines the efforts, stories, arguments, and strategies of individuals and organizations doing Muslim anti-domestic violence work in the United States.
The first study of album-making in the Ottoman empire during the seventeenth century, demonstrating the period's experimentation, eclecticism, and global outlookThe Album of the World Emperor examines an extraordinary piece of art: an album of paintings, drawings, calligraphy, and European prints compiled for the Ottoman sultan Ahmed I (r.
