On the Nature of the Birth of All Species

Chapter 15 presents a theory of conception in human beings and in various animal species that seems to be based on different Greek and Hellenistic ideas. Strikingly, the chapter considers menstruation to be a biological process that is a necessary part of the reproductive cycle, and not, as is the case in Zoroastrian ritual law, a sign of impurity. The accompanying chapter 15A concerns the gender of various creations.

Ritual and Rationality in Islam: A Case Study on Nail Polish

This article examines an ongoing controversy in Islamic ritual law concerning the effect of nail polish on one’s ritual purity. Ritual law serves as the canvas on which some of the most intriguing debates on Islamic theology, rationality and legal reasoning are sketched out as rival conceptualizations of the nature of God – as a rational and merciful agent or as supra-rational being – generate rival sets of jurisprudential and legal doctrines. The study of ritual law also reveals key fault lines in contemporary Sunni Islamic legal and theological thought, particularly the ways in which scholars expressing varying degrees of sympathy with Salafism – from the South Asian Ahl-e Ḥadīth tradition, the Ahl al-Ḥadīth tradition and the Ḥanbalī tradition – create new positions in Sunni law while continuing to champion principles and precedents valorized in Salafism and making their arguments legible in Sunnism.

Ritual Law in Rabbinic Judaism

The influence of the Jerusalem Temple and its rituals persisted in Jewish religious expression even after its destruction. Reactions to this religious rift incorporated the Temple experience as an ongoing resource. The complex and multifaceted transition from Temple to synagogue, and from priests to rabbis, regarded the Temple and its cult as a validating component. The Temple and its attendant practices were present in the assorted domains of rabbinic ritual law. Whether dealing with issues of purity, tithing, prayer, holidays, or home rituals, different strategies were employed when appealing to Temple practice: maintaining continuity, modifying and adapting to changed circumstances, acknowledging break and rupture, and suggesting new modes of religious expression. As in other areas, rabbinic ritual law is marked by its progression toward comprehensiveness, systemization, and abstraction, and it is a foundational stage in the trajectory of Jewish law and practice regarding ritual.

Introduction

The introduction to the Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law advocates for the study of both the law of the Hebrew Bible in its historical and literary context as well as the history of its interpretation in emerging Jewish and Christian communities. It explains that biblical law encompasses both civil/criminal law and ritual law and justifies their inclusion in a single volume. The introduction offers a survey of the organization of the Oxford Handbook of Biblical, showing how the volume offers a reappraisal of comprehensive issues in the study of biblical law in the light of the re-evaluation of the social, religious, and political context and ideology of the legal texts of the Hebrew Bible and the employment of methodologies from the fields of law and literature, gender studies, anthropology, and political theory.

Purity and Sancta Desecration in Ritual Law

This essay applies Emile Durkheim’s category of “repressive law” to the laws dealing with purity and sancta desecration in the Hebrew Bible. Specifically, this chapter seeks to develop Durkheim’s insight by viewing these laws as an expression of the “collective conscience.” More broadly, it is shown how the biblical materials, when viewed in the light of contemporary legal theory, can offer a fascinating historical perspective for reflection on the relation between morality and law and their psychological and sociological foundations. As a test case, the final section of the paper brings these ancient texts to bear on the debate in modern legal theory regarding retribution.

Ritual Law

The juncture of time, place, and performance was the gestation arena of the development of Israelite ritual and theology. The discussion in this chapter will therefore begin with an elucidation of distinct times and then proceed to examine the sacrificial system. The holy days include the Sabbath, pentateuchal festivals, New Moon, Purim, and miscellaneous festivals mentioned in passing. Each is explored with reference to its name, origins, and rituals. Passover is highlighted as the origin of national festivals and institutional sacrifice. Its mythic narrative as the formation point for the nation of Israel thus preserves an obscure historical truth. The sacrificial system is then presented through its pre-institutional origins, its development in the Covenant Code and Deuteronomy, and its standardization in the priestly writings. Major issues discussed include the centralization of the cult and the issue of profane slaughter, the principal types of sacrifice, and the manifold function of the cultic system in Israelite worship. Both the holy days and the sacrifices are analyzed, with broad reference to scholarly debate, for their theological, social, and legal aspects, concluding with their joint significance for Israelite religion. They bestowed relevance for every major event in the individual Israelite’s life, on joyous and distressful occasions alike, in a unified experience of mediation between the individual and the deity, as well as solidification of relationships between individual and community.

LEGITIMASI HUKUM ADAT BALI DALAM KARYA SASTRA KULTURAL

Legitimacy of Balinese Customary Lawin Cultural Literature Works. This article talks about the legitimacy of Balinese customary law and the reinterpretation of the authors of Balinese customary law in cultural literary works. The source of research data comes from the collection of "Bunga Jepun" short stories by Fajar Arcana, "Mandi Api" by Aryantha Soethama, Novel "Tarian Bumi" by Oka Rusmini, and "Incest" by Wayan Artika. The research data was collected by the library study method and then analyzed based on a qualitative descriptive approach which has several mechanisms, namely reduction, presentation of data, and drawing conclusions. The results of the study indicate that the legality of Balinese customary law in question in cultural literature is about the customary law of marriage, the law of inheritance, the law of neglect (exclusion), and the ritual law of malik sumpah. These customary laws become a polemic and are discussed in literary works because they are unable to provide justice for the people and tend to be discriminatory. These customary laws are polemic and are discussed in literary works because they are unable to provide justice among indigenous people

Identities Masked: Sagacity, Sophistry and Pseudepigraphy in Aristeas

The Letter of Aristeas can best be understood when interpreters attend to the full range of postures toward Hellenism and Judaism exhibited by the various characters in the work. These stances range from the translators’ public, universalist philosophizing before the king in Alexandria to the High Priest Eleazar’s more particularistic defense of Jewish ritual law articulated in Jerusalem. Yet when the translators work on the Island of Pharos, or when the High Priest writes to the King, these characters display other sides of themselves. For the author of Aristeas – himself a Jew parading rather successfully as a Greek – knowing how much to conceal or reveal, when and where, is a fundamental skill, the secret to success for Jews in the Hellenistic diaspora.

Introduction

The Introduction outlines the four-pillar foundation on which the main text of the volume rests. These are Sunni-Shia differences in doctrine, ritual, law, and religious organization; the singular role of Sunni Islam’s Wahhabi doctrine in the rise of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, occupying four-fifths of the Arabian Peninsula, starting with the small First Saudi State (1744-1818), followed by the Second Saudi State (1824-1891); the salience of Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of Islam and the site of the Kaaba, the centerpiece of the Hajj pilgrimage; and the social, economic and demographic differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia; and their reasons for claiming exceptionalism. Overall, the Introduction serves the function of a framing chapter.