I'm curious if I could get any recommendations on books about Kabbalah. So far I've been enjoying works by Gershom Scholem and Elijah Benamozegh. I'm looking into more authors, but I'm not sure what's legit and what's just new age hoo-ha. Amazon keeps recommending me authors like David A. Kooper...
I'm curious about what is the Zoroastrian views regarding the Parthian period? From what I understand, it was a period of heavy syncreticism and the religious structure was starting to wane towards local Hellenic deities before the Sassanids reformed it back to monotheism.
Why is cremation so frowned upon in Abrahamic tradition? So far the only explanation I've heard has to do with the body having a proper place of rest, but if that's the case what's wrong with just burying the ashes?
What is the definition of idolatry in it Biblical sense, and definition of it over time? Is it purely polytheism? or does it go further?
What exactly makes it bad/wrong compared to other forms of worship?
Discuss
I'm curious how do Conservative and Reform view the divine inspiration of the Tanakh? To my knowledge, they reject the "pious assumption" of God dictating the books verbatim and the texts being "perfect" revelations of God, ex: contradictory ideas like God regretting decisions, etc.
One...
So I recently watched the film in a class of mine and was curious if anyone else has seen in it in this section (for obvious reasons), and what you may have taken from it?
A big question I know, but what is the relationship between the existence of evil and God? We read in Genesis that God created the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, implying that God "knows Evil" and even allows the serpent to seduce Adam and Eve. There are other instances where God evokes...
This thread is basically an inquiry on the more painful aspects of the afterlife according to Judaism.
-How close have the 2 concepts been in the history of their interpretation?
-I sometimes will come across the terms "Abyss" and "Bottomless pit" used in a similar context in Jewish texts. Is...
I'm considering a few Catholic bibles, and so far the two I like are the New American Bible or the New Jerusalem versions. Are there any suggestions for good Catholic bibles(with the deuterocanon books)?
Instead of making separate threads, I'll just ask both in here.
-What are your views on polygamy? I know Ashkenazim are banned from the practice, even though there is no explicit prohibition in the Torah.
-Sacrifices, I know there are different views on whether they'll resume in the third...
The more I study the apocryphal literature of the Second Temple period, the more I noticed that "Apocalypes" were a common genre to talk about the turbulent troubles of the times they were written. It seems no different for Revelation, 666=Emperor Nero's name in gemmatria, Nero is equated with...
I was reviewing a bit of Matthew and had noticed the interesting detail about John the Baptist being a form of Elijah. I had been doing some reading on Kabbalah and l noticed that there are forms of reincarnation in Jewish mystical thought, specifically Gilgul and Ibbur. Is the gospel writer...
I discussion came up in my religious studies class involving religious classification:
Say there is a gentile who believes in the haShem as the one true god and wishes to study Jewish theology and Torah, but not make a formal conversion of becoming part of the Jewish ancestry and binding himself...
I'm curious if Messianics have any significant views about the actual death of Yeshua. Is the main emphasis solely put on his life and teachings or is there some important role his death served?
Hello everyone, I've never been good at introductions but here goes.
I'm Christian, raised Catholic my whole life and broadened my horizons in high school studying reformation theology and other protestant branches. I wasn't entirely satisfied with some of the doctrine I encountered, so I...