A central topic in medieval Jewish philosophy and thought was the explanation of the Mosaic commandments. From Philo and Saadiah on, thinkers sought to uncover "reasons for the commandments" (ta'amei ha-mitzvot) both to demonstrate the rationality of divine legislation and to motivate performance of the commandments. Like many received topics, this enterprise was radically transformed in the hands of Maimonides. In this first book-length treatment of a subject that has been relatively overlooked by scholars since Isaac Heinemann's classic work in the 1950s, Josef Stern offers an original analysis of two major themes in Maimonides' explanation of the Law and its impact on Nahmanides. The first theme is Maimonides' reconceptualization of the huqqim, those commandments that were traditionally asserted either to have no reason or a reason that is unknown or unknowable. The second theme is Maimonides' application of his method of multi-leveled interpretation that treats texts as parables with "external" and "internal" meaning to the explanation of commandments with multiple reasons. Both of these innovative modes of explanation are adopted by Nahmanides, who refined and adapted Maimonides' structures of interpretation to express diametrically opposed contents. From this perspective there emerges a picture of the relation between these two seminal figures of medieval Judaism that is much more subtle than the received opinion that bluntly opposes them, the radical arch rationalist against the mystical traditionalist. Inquiry into ta'amei ha-mitzvot served as a locus for discussion of a broad range of philosophical topics: the attributes of God, the grounds of law and legal obligation, the structure of explanation and interpretation, idolatry, friendship and love, the status of astrology and magic, and attitudes toward the body. Stern demonstrates both the philosophical importance of these topics in Maimonides' and Nahmanides' thought and the relevance of their writings to contemporary philosophical discussions.

A rigorous analysis of Maimonides' and Nahmanides' explanations of the Mosaic commandments that challenges received notions of the relation between these two seminal thinkers.

Remarkable is how extensively in each parable Jesus provides a subtle but rich array of unexpected possibilities hidden within the hierarchies of power so commonplace in his world. By doing so he profoundly addresses the perils inherent in the prerogatives of many of us living in today's world. In these ancient interpersonal tragedies, readers can discover modern global analogues--where the powerful still control the powerless and where others of us, immersed as we are in privilege, are still willing to side with control.

Two parables that have become firmly lodged in popular consciousness and affection are the parable of the Good Samaritan and the parable of the Prodigal Son. These simple but subversive tales have had a significant impact historically on shaping the spiritual, aesthetic, moral, and legal traditions of Western civilization, and their capacity to inform debate on a wide range of moral and social issues remains as potent today as ever. Noting that both stories deal with episodes of serious interpersonal offending, and both recount restorative responses on the part of the leading characters, Compassionate Justice draws on the insights of restorative justice theory, legal philosophy, and social psychology to offer a fresh reading of these two great parables. It also provides a compelling analysis of how the priorities commended by the parables are pertinent to the criminal justice system today. The parables teach that the conscientious cultivation of compassion is essential to achieving true justice. Restorative justice strategies, this book argues, provide a promising and practical means of attaining to this goal of reconciling justice with compassion.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, competing scholarly communities sought to define a Spain that was, at least officially, entirely Christian, even if many suspected that newer converts from Islam and Judaism were Christian in name only. Unlike previous books on conversion in early modern Spain, however, Parables of Coercion focuses not on the experience of the converts themselves, but rather on how questions surrounding conversion drove religious reform and scholarly innovation. In its careful examination of how Spanish authors transformed the history of scholarship through debate about forced religious conversion, Parables of Coercion makes us rethink what we mean by tolerance and intolerance, and shows that debates about forced conversion and assimilation were also disputes over the methods and practices that demarcated one scholarly discipline from another.

The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue Isaiah 50:4 Be warned! Though it is fiction, Parables Mean deals with matters of faith. Your religious beliefs will be affected. Jesus and his band were no goody two-sandals. What does this book, Parables Mean, offer you? 1. It presents solutions to all the parables, showing the true mission of Jesus, and scrapes away the cover stories inserted by the writers and by the redacting of later churchmen. 2. It provides stories, motivations, logic, and allusions that Jesus would have noted to build his theology and mission. 3. It explains how Jesus tested and recruited people for his covert mission work, developed a curriculum for training them, and set the stage for discovery of his true goal. 4. It shows the planning and scheming done by Jesus to reverse a centuries-old view of God as a fearsome and demanding tyrant. 5. It identifies the middle-Bible period writers who were covertly trying to undo what the Pentateuch had envisioned as Gods words and acts. 6. It plots out the twists and turns that propelled the Jesus Academy into its final crisis, making Parables Mean a Whodunit and Why? Parts of the Old and New Testaments lead to different conclusions about Jesus and Moses than what the churches provide to members. The secret undercurrent in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke tells a coherent story about the strategies and goals of the mission of Jesus. That undercurrent revises the understanding of the temptation, the beatitudes, prayer, and parables. It changes beliefs regarding sin, repentance, salvation, apocalypse, prophecy, Moses, Mary, John the Baptist and much else. You may mourn the loss of treasured assurances, of magical stories and miracles. You may feel giddy in your new freedom. You may start working toward social change. You will have empathy for those who do not know what you know.

The third volume in the Biblical Explorations series from bestselling New Testament writer Paula Gooder explores a major exponent of the Gospels: the parables of Jesus. It considers why Jesus spoke in pictures and opens up the world behind the parables to reveal just how striking, memorable and challenging they were for their original hearers.