At the present time, when authority for the church's beliefs and actions is the subject of much discussion, this book attempts to look to the authority of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and how these are transmitted within apostolic tradition by word, actions, and writings. Elements giving weight to authority (co-inherence, consistency, and universality) are examined along with the scope and limits of interpretative tradition.

Mordecai Joseph Leiner of Izbica was a unique thinker in the history of Hasidism with a highly personal vision of Judaism. His teachings, partially derived from the Przysucha-Kotsk school, adopted the concept of absolute divine providence as a cornerstone. He also reinterpreted the Lurianic concept of tiqqun, originally intended as a cosmological concept, to apply to the individual, creating a new path to spiritual self-perfection.

From one of the most thought-provoking writers in the monastic tradition, this volume contains 153 short, contemplative sayings of St. Isaac of Nineveh (fl. 661-681 CE) in their original Syriac with facing English translation. St. Isaac was ordained bishop of Nineveh but resigned his post only five months later and became a monastic hermit in the mountains of southeastern Iraq. This work speaks to believing Christians today as well as scholars wishing to learn more about the Eastern monastic tradition.

Scholars from various fields of study have long dealt with the relationship between religion and science. This subject has found a particular expression in sociology. Sociologists and other scholars agree that even though religion and science can be seen as separate from each other, there are several commonalities between the two. The common ground between Bellah, Giddens, and Habermas – the meaningful position the Subject has/should have in constructing the social reality – brings to light a transition in the sociological theoretical arena, if we take into account the different theoretical roots of each scholar – Functionalism (Bellah), Positivism (Giddens), and Neo-Kantian (Habermas).

This title is a study of the work and career of theologian and diplomat George Scholarios who became the first Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church during the period of Ottoman Rule. Scholarios advocated the union of the Greek and Latin Churches, but he later became the leader of the anti-Unionist faction in the final years of the Byzantine Empire. Scholarios played an important role in East-West dialogues, including the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438-39. This book provides a fresh look at some of the cultural misunderstandings that took place at the Council and related dialogues.

Adrian Fortescue (1874-1923) was recognized as one of England’s foremost authorities on Eastern Christianity and helped to shape the English-speaking world’s understanding of the Eastern Churches. This book is a critical examination of his writings on the subject, analyzing what he said about the Eastern Christian Churches and highlighting his insights into key questions. It focuses on Fortescue’s understanding of the schisms and his thoughts as to how reunion can come about. The book concludes by comparing Fortescue's perspective to later advances in theology and historical scholarship in order to ascertain the long-term accuracy of his writings.

This book investigates the interaction between grammatical norms and poetic technique on the basis of a corpus selected from the oeuvre of the payyetan Eleazar be-rabbi Qillir. As a basis for this investigation, a descriptive/comparative analysis of the Qillirian dialect is offered. The first portion of the work is a grammar devoted mainly to morphology and syntax. The second portion of the work is an investigation of the poetic norms, as well as rhetorical techniques employed by Qillir, together with an assessment of their impact on the grammar. The overall aim of the project is to design an analytical framework within which a self-conscious poetic dialect might be investigated.

Orthodox ecclesiology doctrinally and historically requires that all authority in the church be expressed by the bishop. The unity of authority, based upon the laying on of hands, is the lived expression of the oneness and catholicity of the church. American Orthodoxy, however, does not have such an authority structure, especially on the parish level. This study explores the divergence of practice from doctrine in the American church. The study concludes with a theological discussion of the problematic nature of parish congregationalism in Orthodoxy. It points toward the already-realized conciliarity of supra-parish structures as the paradigm for a reformation of parish authority structures.

This volume resurrects the forgotten history of early American involvement in biblical archaeology. Frederick Jones Bliss, an American from a prominent missionary family, is central to the story as he was the first of any nationality to scientifically excavate the tells of Palestine.

`Enbe men Karmo Suryoyo is a chrestomathy intended primarily for students who have covered the essentials of Syriac morphology and syntax, but it should also interest anyone who enjoys Syriac literature in general. The twenty-six selections consist of examples of Syriac prose and poetry from the second until the thirteenth centuries AD. The readings reflect a wide and varied range of subject matter. Inevitably, selections of a religious nature predominate, but historical, ethnographic, chemical, astronomical, and linguistic excerpts produced by famous Syriac authors, as well as less familiar ones, have been included. A Syriac-English glossary and an index of grammatical points are included.