Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Searching for Oneness

Throughout the ages and across religious traditions, people have yearned to personally experience God and deeply connect with the Creator. In Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ori Z. Soltes traces the sweep of mysticism-this search for oneness with God-throughout the three Abrahamic traditions. This unique comparative overview begins with a definition of mysticism and a discussion of its place within religion as a whole. Soltes then explores the history of mysticism from Biblical times through the present day, highlighting the emergence of mysticism within the three traditions and how beliefs and practices converge and diverge over time. The final chapters discuss the growing interest in mysticism today through practices such as Kabbalah and how people publicly express their private encounters with God through art, literature, and other modern media.

History

Soltes, Ori Z.

World

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

National Treasures of Georgia

Philip Wilson

The complexities of the Middle East made a little more understandable

Untangling the Web: A Thinking Person's Guide to Why the Middle East is a Mess and Always has Been

Middle East

Bartleby Press

Crossing the goal line, with the football tucked safely in his arms, the NFL star falls on one knee, bows his head, crosses himself and utters a prayer of thanksgiving to God, giving one more example of the ever expanding connection between sports and religion. At least it seems to be expanding. The question is: was there truly a notable surge in that relationship between sports and religion. And if there has been a surge, is it unique in history, or merely part of an ongoing ebb and flow? This book offers a concise yet detailed account of this multifaceted association —and its implications for the ongoing game (the ultimate sport!) of trying to understand what we humans are as a species. Sports is one among many areas where religion and its concerns have played a role, and the interweave between sports and religion is as old as sports and as continuous as religion. Contemporary instances are different from what one finds in Greek and Latin literature where gods are actively on the “playing field,” and directly leads to the first athletic competitions The discussion of biblical “athletes” offers a different religious connotation: the stories of Samson are religious in part simply because they are biblical. The question of Islam and sports, or of Jewish success in the Olympics, or of how both Jews and Muslims manage to maintain aspects of their faiths when the athletic competitions in which they engage don’t leave space for that—or of the attitude of Judaism or Islam or Christianity to sports and physical accomplishment in general—is diverse. The discussion of Native American sports with origins in religious ritual is different still. Moreover, “sports and religion” keeps intersecting—from different angles—sports and warfare, sports and politics, religion and politics, religion and warfare; and all these combinations intertwine aspects of art. Reading God and the Goalposts, it becomes clear that sport, in combination with religion is a major theme thoughout the history of mankind.

God and the Goalposts: A Brief History of Sports, Religion, Politics, War, and Art

This highly ambitious volume addresses the idea of "Jewish art and architecture" by posing and responding to a series of questions.First is the unresolved conceptual definition of "Jewish," not just as applied to art, but to literature, music, dance, or thought as well.Then there is the complex matter of historical designation : Abraham was called a Hebrew; Moses and David were Israelites; Ezra was a Judaean. How are these terms related to and different from the terms "Jew" and "Jewish" and where, accordingly, must one place Israelite and Judaean art and architecture within the understanding of Jewish art and architecture?Soltes' narrative further asks: when one uses the phrase "Jewish art and architecture," is it a description of the work of art or the identity of the artist? If the former, is the criterion the subject, style, symbol, or purpose? If the latter, is it the artist's convictions that are being labeled "Jewish"--does he or she need to be consciously trying to make "Jewish" art? Is the artist-based definition affected by birth or conversion: does an artist who converts into or out of Judaism suddenly begin to make Jewish art or cease to make Jewish art?Against the background of these questions, Tradition and Transformation follows a long and wide trajectory that moves from the Israelite period to the present day, and carries us from the Middle East to Europe, Asia, North Africa, South and North America and back to the Middle East, as it searches for answers. But it is the journey, not the arrival that is important. Through the presentation and analysis of over a thousand works of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, collage, architecture, and mixed media--more than 700 of which are depicted--the author continuously addresses the ways in which various works and their makers do and/or do not fit comfortably into the rubric "Jewish art" or "Jewish architecture."We arrive at a necessarily aporetic conclusion: the very criteria of definition continue to shift across time and space, and we embrace the idea that there is no absolute set of terms that will apply comfortably across a vast and lush realm of artistic creativity. Perhaps this is the point. For asking questions without easy answers or without answers at all, in the end, proves to be the consummate Jewish art.

Tradition and Transformation: A Comprehensive Exploration of Three Millenia of Jewish Art and Architecture

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Eshel Books

This big, handsome book presents the work of American artist George Wardlaw (b.1927) in over 180 full-color plates and illustrations.The critical essays in this book characterize Wardlaw’s work, placing it in context with the significant art movements of his time, beginning in1947 with non-objective painting and tracing his journey through six decades of art making.Never confined by categories, Wardlaw explores medium, form, scale, and color on his quest for creative and spiritual resolution. From his Baptist and Native American roots to Judaism, from the rural south to the urban northeast, from painting to sculpture and back again, Wardlaw produced series after series of profound artworks―an exploration across geographical, physical,intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual boundaries.Wardlaw was a member of the avant-garde art scene in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s and went on to become an important figure in American art, driven by his passion and desires rather than popular trends. His significant and impressive body of work reveals a unique story, both personal and universal, weaving one man’s perspective into the larger canon of twentieth-century art.

George Wardlaw: Crossing Borders

Gruber, Richard J.

McAvoy, Suzette

Individual Artists

Marshall Wilkes Books

The Greco-Roman world was one of multi-aspected Paganisms, with their consciousness of myriad gods and goddesses, daimons and spirits. In that world the Hebrew-Israelite-Judaean tradition struggled to assert itself-and ultimately split into what became Judaism and Christianity. Verbal distinctions that we take for granted-such as those between magic and religion, myth and theology, superstition, heresy and true belief, astronomy and astrology-had not yet assumed the place to which they eventually arrive within our vocabulary. The book offers an account of how Judaism and Christianity emerged as distinct, related faiths each claiming to be the proper continuation of the Hebraic tradition. It considers how their theological relationship-their competition with respect to the Truth regarding divinity and its relationship to humanity-is affected by both their mutual interface and their theological relationships with Paganism, and also by the political context of the pagan Roman Imperium in which they develop. The book seeks to understand what comprise the key elements that distinguish and join these traditions, why and how the vocabulary of religion and magic emerges and evolves, and how the shaping of that vocabulary has affected and continues to affect our sense of what Judaism and Christianity are. This book examines ancient texts, some well-known (like the Bible and Homer's Odyssey) and others fairly obscure (such as the Greek Magical Papyrae and the Book of Secrets ascribed to Noah); it also explores a number of modern discussions, either of some of these texts or of some of the concepts that this book addresses. It offers a uniquely broad and integrated perspective on two interwoven issues-magic, superstition and religion, on the one hand, and, on the other, the way early Judaism and Christianity were facing each other while confronting paganism and the evolving concept of heresy.

Magic and Religion in the Greco-Roman World: The Beginnings of Judaism and Christianity

Academia–West Press

From Plato to Panini to Levinas

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Routledge India

A lucid and engaging breakdown of the history, culture, and politics that define today’s Middle East. Untangling the Middle East is a layman’s guide to the historypolitical, religious, and culturalthat led us to the current challenges plaguing the Middle East. It covers the major interests and actors in the region, from Israel to ISIS, and helps to spin a narrative of the evolution of violence and conflict in this age-old hotbed of unrest. There are no easy answers or simple explanations to be found here, only a clear-eyed and engaging recounting of the many factors that have brought this region to where it is today. Whether he is discussing the history of the Semitic peoples or the birth of Islam in the region, Soltes brings insight and much needed context to the people, places, and things that make up the inheritance of today’s Middle East. He possesses the historian’s appreciation for detail and the teacher’s knack for fashioning coherence out of complex material. This book should be a go-to resource for a solid foundation in understanding the Middle East and a bulwark against the disinformation regarding this region that is often found on cable television or in speeches on the campaign trail. The Middle East may be a mess but it need not be a mystery, with the help of this indispensable guide.

Untangling the Middle East: A Guide to the Past, Present, and Future of the World's Most Chaotic Region

Skyhorse

This unique volume addresses the idea of Jewish art and architecture by posing and responding to a series of questions. These begin with the unresolved conceptual definition of “Jewish” and the consequent complication attached to any noun—literature, art, music, dance, thought—to which that adjective is appended. The questions continue with the complex matter of historical definition: Abraham was called a Hebrew; Moses and David were Israelites; Ezra was a Judaean. How are these terms related to and different from the terms “Jew” and “Jewish” and where, accordingly, must one place Israelite and Judaean art and architecture within the understanding of Jewish art and architecture? The narrative further asks: when one uses the phrase “Jewish art and architecture,” is the basis for employing that adjective the work of art or the identity of the artist? If the former, is the criterion subject, style, symbol, purpose? If the latter, is it the artist’s convictions that are being labeled “Jewish”—does he or she need to be consciously trying to make “Jewish” art? Is the artist-based definition affected by birth or conversion: does an artist who converts into or out of Judaism suddenly begin to make Jewish art or cease to make Jewish art? Against the background of these questions, the narrative follows a long and wide trajectory that moves from the Israelite period to the present day, and carries from the Middle East to Europe, Asia, North Africa, South and North America as it searches for answers to these questions. But it is the journey, not the arrival that is important. Through the presentation and analysis of over a thousand works of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, collage, architecture, and mixed media—more than 700 of which are depicted—the author continuously addresses the ways in which various works and their makers do and/or do not fit comfortably into the rubric “Jewish art” or “Jewish architecture.” The discussion arrives at a necessarily aporetic conclusion: the very criteria of definition continue to shift across time and space, and thus in the end there is no absolute definition that will apply comfortably across what is a vast and lush realm of artistic creativity. Perhaps this is the point, however. For asking questions without easy answers or without answers at all, in the end, proves to be the consummate Jewish art.

Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art and Architecture

Canal Street Studios

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Books by Soltes, Ori Z.