{"title":"Martin Sicker","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"introduction-to-judaic-thought-and-rabbinic-literature-book-martin-sicker-9780275994655","title":"An Introduction to Judaic Thought and Rabbinic Literature","description":"Many people have heard the term Talmud but have little or no idea what it is, what it contains, and why it was written; moreover, few have ever actually looked into one of its works, and even fewer would make any sense of it if they did. Here, Sicker provides readers with insight into the nature and history of Judaic thought and its literature through illustrative examples and clear explanations. Rabbinic literature is important, even to those who are not religiously inclined, because it alone represents the embodiment of the intellectual legacy that has contributed enormously to the survival and continuity of the Jewish people. Through two thousand years of dispersion, rabbinic literature was the primary link to the past and provided hope for the future. It was, in effect, the intellectual homeland of a people scattered throughout the world. Even if one has never read any Judaic literature, he or she will have some notion of what it is after reading this book.  This book is written for the vast majority of adults who either attend synagogue or have a general interest in Judaism, whether Jewish or not. It provides insight into the meaning of terms that are used in sermons, lectures, and articles, such as Torah, halakhah, midrash, Talmud, and Jewish law, all of which are component elements of rabbinic literature. Sicker explains the meaning of these and other terms, the bodies of literature they refer to, and the historical linkage between them in an easy, accessible manner. In a sense, this book is not only a guide to the literature, but also an intellectual history of Judaic thought and culture that should be of interest to anyone even slightly curious about how Judaism managed to survive for millennia without central institutions or clerical hierarchy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49712724345105,"sku":"CIN0275994651G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52426338435345,"sku":"NLS9780275994655","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0275994651.jpg?v=1750909000"},{"product_id":"trials-of-abraham-book-martin-sicker-9780595337538","title":"The Trials of Abraham","description":"The Trials of Abraham is based on the premise that the primary concern of the Torah is with establishing a conceptual framework within which a unique nation might emerge and flourish for the exclusive purpose of facilitating the emergence of a model civilization for eventual emulation by all the peoples of the earth. The Trials of Abraham is devoted to a consideration of how the biblical author sought to explain through narrative rather than analysis why Abraham was chosen to be the founding patriarch of that new nation.\u003cp\u003e The saga of Abraham is presented in the book of Genesis in a group of stories reflecting a series of progressively severe tests or trials to which Abraham was subjected in order to demonstrate to all but especially to posterity his worthiness to be the founder of a unique nation committed to God's service. The trials illustrate the discrete steps by which he underwent transformation from a natural philosopher to a religious sage, from being a consummate rationalist to becoming a man of faith capable of suppressing even the most pressing demands of reason.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Understanding the biblical narrative requires that we strive to comprehend what the text as we have it is telling us, explicitly as well as implicitly. As is the case with many biblical texts, it is not always clear what is being conveyed or why certain bits of information are provided and others omitted. The challenge for the sympathetic reader is to attempt fill in the seemingly obvious gaps in the narrative and to make sense of that which is or is not said. It is the purpose of The Trials of Abraham to assist the reader in doing just that.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49809400594705,"sku":"CIN0595337538G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51292939125009,"sku":"NIN9780595337538","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52129890042129,"sku":"NLS9780595337538","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0595337538.jpg?v=1751167722"},{"product_id":"political-economy-of-work-in-the-21st-century-book-martin-sicker-9781567205664","title":"The Political Economy of Work in the 21st Century","description":"When Congress enacted Social Secuirty in 1935, with the age of retirement set at age 65, average life expectancy was 62 years. By the time Medicare was enacted 30 years later, life expectancy had risen to age 70. Since the enactment of Medicare, life expectancy has risen to age 76 today and may be expected to increase further in the decades to come. Clearly, the increase in post-retirement life expectancy has significant implications for the level of national expenditures attributable to an aging population. One of the approaches suggested as a solution to the so-called income transfer problem is to redefine old age, that is, to push retirement and its associated benefits off to a later age. This would effectively increase the size of the workforce, with older workers continuing to contribute their payroll taxes for an extended period of time. The critical question Sicker poses is, will there be enough appropriate employment opportunities for a growing number of older workers in the workforce of the future? The evidence for a positive response is far from clear or compelling.    Sicker examines the prospective place of the aging worker in the employment environment of the 21st century in light of the restructuring of American business and the world of work in the final decades of the last century. In doing so, he raises serious concerns about the validity and utility of some of the neoclassical economic ideas and assumptions that have become part of the conventional wisdom of our time. Sicker contends that these dubious propositions have unwittingly contributed signficantly to the problem through their manifestation in public policy. However, the principal focus of his analysis is not on economic theory as such, but on the realities and uncertainties that an aging American workforce will face in the decades to come. This book is significant reading for scholars, researchers, and the general public interested in labor force and aging policy issues.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50363964686609,"sku":"CIN076684014XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50363970748689,"sku":"CIN076684014XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52337848647953,"sku":"NLS9781567205664","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1567205666.jpg?v=1751056205"},{"product_id":"ten-commandments-book-martin-sicker-9780595483198","title":"The Ten Commandments","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Ten Commandments is an exploration into the background, meaning, and implications of the Decalogue from a Judaic perspective. Although they have become a universal symbol of Judeo-Christian civilization, it is only within Judaism that the Ten Commandments have a juridical function that goes beyond the mere announcement of a set of key precepts for man and society. In Judaism, the Ten Commandments are considered an epitome of the vast body of biblical legislation, a concise statement of a mere 172 Hebrew words that was presented as a credo that could easily be memorized and serve as a basic list of essentially easily understandable general rules. It was not expected that the ordinary citizen would remember or fully understand the plethora of commandments found in the Torah that demand compliance and observance by the children of Israel, their descendents, and those who chose to cast their lot in life with them. To understand the meaning and significance of the Ten Commandments in Judaic thought, it is therefore necessary to correlate them with the body of legislative enactments set forth in the Torah dealing with the same subject matter, a rather complex endeavor that this study hopes to facilitate.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51004670247185,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51004673425681,"sku":"NIN9780595483198","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52407548838161,"sku":"NLS9780595483198","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0595483194.jpg?v=1751136124"},{"product_id":"book-of-the-covenant-book-martin-sicker-9781450216494","title":"The Book of the Covenant","description":"According to the biblical narrative, in addition to the Ten Commandments, Moses received a series of supplementary instructions to guide the people as they set about establishing a society in conformity with the covenant that are to be found in the so-called the Book of the Covenant. 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Toward this end, the book begins with a cursory review of selected examples of geopolitical thought from antiquity to the present, which illustrates some of the main tendencies in geopolitical thinking throughout history. This survey of both past and recent geopolitical thinking is followed by a discussion of the intimate relationship between geographical and geostrategic considerations and realistic foreign policy, and then continues with consideration of basic factors affecting geopolitical decision-making such as the size of a state, its configuration, climate, and often most critically its global and regional location. This is followed by a discussion of the frontiers, boundaries, and borderlands that separate and define the territories of states and the impact on them of technological advancements, which is then followed by an examination of the variety of territorial disputes among nations, past and present, many of which remain unresolved. The book concludes with a brief discussion of some of the continuing and prospective geopolitical challenges that are likely to be confronted in the course of the present century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51027430048017,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51027432800529,"sku":"NIN9781450231374","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52127237112081,"sku":"NLS9781450231374","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1450231373.jpg?v=1750827080"},{"product_id":"political-history-of-judea-from-609-bce-to-135-ce-book-martin-sicker-9781664158573","title":"A Political History of Judea from 609 Bce to 135 Ce","description":"The geopolitical history of the Middle East in antiquity is principally the story of the continuing struggle for domination of the trade routes of the eastern littoral of the Mediterranean Sea, some of the most valued of which passed through the relatively narrow strip of territory stretching from the Egyptian frontier in the Sinai desert to southern Syria, and from there to Mesopotamia. That strip of territory, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Jordan River to the east, known as Cisjordan, constituted the primary land-bridge between northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia. As a consequence of its geopolitical role as a buffer zone between Egypt and the major powers of antiquity, it was always in the interests of the dominant powers of the region to keep that strip of territory divided into numerous small city-states that would be dependent on one or the other of the major powers for their political survival. The present study is primarily concerned with the political history of the Jewish states that emerged in Cisjordan in antiquity, in effect continuing the narrative of my previous study, The Rise and Fall of the Ancient Israelite States, which concluded with the final destruction of the First Hebrew Commonwealth by the Babylonians, including the Temple built in Jerusalem by Solomon, in 586 BCE. This study begins with a brief discussion of the circumstances that led to that disastrous event and its aftermath. The subsequent Persian conquest of Babylonia unexpectedly led to the emergence of what is frequently spoken of as the Second Hebrew Commonwealth or the Second Temple period. 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In the effort to comprehend and explain the highly complex biblical text, the author has consulted a wide range of commentaries and studies written over a period of some two millennia that have sought to understand the biblical texts from a wide variety of perspectives, many of which are presented for the reader's consideration, including many sources inaccessible to those without a working knowledge of Hebrew.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51147196137745,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51147198497041,"sku":"NIN9780595469031","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52089396723985,"sku":"NLS9780595469031","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0595469035.jpg?v=1751360161"},{"product_id":"reflections-on-the-book-of-leviticus-book-martin-sicker-9781491827901","title":"Reflections on the Book of Leviticus","description":"The theme that unifies the diverse contents of this biblical work is that of holiness, as the text asserts: Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy (Lev. 19:2). 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The term prophetic history is employed to describe the subject because prophecy in biblical thought is not fatalistic and does not predict future events. What it does do is assert that the moral course that a society chooses to follow in the present can determine its probable but not inevitable future. The purpose of the biblical book is to inform the reader of the historical consequences of the failure to observe the terms of the divine covenant entered into between God and the children of Israel at Mount Sinai following the exodus from Egypt. Although the narrative is based on events that were believed to have taken place, the primary focus of prophetic history is on the moral implications of the decisions taken by men rather than the factual accuracy of the details of the events described which have been studied exhaustively by archaeologists and historians of the ancient world. 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Viewed from a traditional perspective, the stories related in Genesis are essentially graphic philosophical and theological narratives designed to convey profound ideas and insights that would otherwise be found only in tomes designed for students of philosophy and theology. A close substantive examination of these narratives, as presented in the Masoretic text, but often lost in translation where the subtleties of the Hebrew wording are glossed over, will reveal a treasure trove of insights into the fundamental issues of religious belief, the divine-human relationship, free will and determinism, the complex nature of humankind, and theodicy. The present work contains six 'deep dive' studies of selected narratives in the book of Genesis that continue to address questions of theological significance in addition to the relationship of man to the Creator, as well as to his fellow man. 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It is the hope and expectation of the author of these studies that the reader will come away from them with even more questions about the biblical texts than they had before. As will be seen there has always been little consensus over the centuries about the meanings of these essentially 'right brain' texts, primarily because they are constructed and written in a manner that tends to challenge 'left brain' analysis. 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Although the work has been translated from the original Hebrew numerous times, much of it remains inaccessible because of the epigrammatic rather than discursive style of the original, which employs idiomatic expressions, unusual turns of phrase, grammatically awkward constructions, euphemisms, and plays on words that confound even those who are able to read it in the original language.\u003cp\u003e An ancient work like Pirkei Avot can be read from a variety of perspectives. It may be read it from the standpoint of what it says that resonates with the contemporary concerns of the reader or commentator, often attaching meaning to a maxim that its author could not reasonably be expected to have intended. It may also be read from the perspective of attempting to understand what the redactor of the work had in mind when making his editorial decisions about what to include or exclude, and why he made such choices from the large volume of materials available to him. Finally, the work can be read as representing the concerns of the individual authors in the context of the times in which they lived. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In essence, then, one must choose between reading meaning into the text and reading meaning out of it. The approach in this book is to do the latter, that is, to understand the maxims and teachings of the sages that appear in Pirkei Avot primarily from the standpoint of the originators, and secondarily from the standpoint of the redactor, some of whose own thoughts are included in the work. In so doing, it will suggest, wherever possible and plausible, the unstated problems and questions to which the sages' teachings and assertions probably were deemed appropriate responses.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51249527193873,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51249529127185,"sku":"NIN9780595663637","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52402297438481,"sku":"NLS9780595663637","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/059566363X.jpg?v=1750784106"},{"product_id":"passover-seder-companion-and-analytic-introduction-to-the-haggadah-book-martin-sicker-9780595313693","title":"A Passover Seder Companion and Analytic Introduction to the Haggadah","description":"The Passover Seder, the most popular and widely celebrated occasion on the annual Jewish calendar, and its Haggadah, which is a unique combination of liturgy, biblical exegesis, and rabbinic lore, have both delighted and confounded celebrants for nearly two thousand years. Over time, the traditional Haggadah has become increasingly obscure as the distance between the authors and readers, in both chronological and cultural terms, widens over time. This is because the Haggadah is essentially a rabbinic work, much of which is written in a style similar to that found in the classic works of Rabbinic Judaism such as the Talmud and Midrash, works that demand much more from those who would understand them than casual perusal.\u003cp\u003e Although some good translations of the Haggadah have appeared over the years, even the best is necessarily an interpretation as well, and may tend to obscure some of the nuances in the original language of composition that permit alternative explanations of the author's intent. The problem of maintaining fidelity to the original has become exacerbated as efforts to make the text more relevant to the modern reader have in some instances introduced assertions that, while essentially meaningful, bear little direct relation to the language and likely intent of the original work. 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Although the work has been translated from the original Hebrew numerous times, much of it remains inaccessible because of the epigrammatic rather than discursive style of the original, which employs idiomatic expressions, unusual turns of phrase, grammatically awkward constructions, euphemisms, and plays on words that confound even those who are able to read it in the original language.\u003cp\u003e An ancient work like Pirkei Avot can be read from a variety of perspectives. It may be read it from the standpoint of what it says that resonates with the contemporary concerns of the reader or commentator, often attaching meaning to a maxim that its author could not reasonably be expected to have intended. It may also be read from the perspective of attempting to understand what the redactor of the work had in mind when making his editorial decisions about what to include or exclude, and why he made such choices from the large volume of materials available to him. Finally, the work can be read as representing the concerns of the individual authors in the context of the times in which they lived. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In essence, then, one must choose between reading meaning into the text and reading meaning out of it. The approach in this book is to do the latter, that is, to understand the maxims and teachings of the sages that appear in Pirkei Avot primarily from the standpoint of the originators, and secondarily from the standpoint of the redactor, some of whose own thoughts are included in the work. In so doing, it will suggest, wherever possible and plausible, the unstated problems and questions to which the sages' teachings and assertions probably were deemed appropriate responses.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51249947410705,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51249948983569,"sku":"NIN9780595316724","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52402312610065,"sku":"NLS9780595316724","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0595316727.jpg?v=1751231382"},{"product_id":"afterlife-in-judaic-thought-book-martin-sicker-9781669812562","title":"The Afterlife in Judaic Thought","description":"The central theme of this study is the eschatology of Judaism as conceived by its proponents from remote antiquity to the present day, eschatology being a branch of theology concerned with the end of history and time as we know it. Eschatological theories and beliefs will be found in every culture where its thinkers struggle to make sense of their lives and history, and most particularly regarding what happens to them and their world after their lives come to an end. As a consequence, such beliefs or theories must necessarily be highly imaginative because they relate to a period beyond time. The very term 'afterlife' captures the frustrating ambiguity of the notion of eschatology for neither our language nor our conceptual skills can deal with an 'end' to time. There is no 'after' to time, for the term 'after' is itself a time-related notion. There is only an 'after' within time. Nonetheless, eschatological notions attempt to takes us beyond time. Judaism tends to be precise where it touches human activity, while thought and doctrine remain fluid. 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In this book, the author undertakes to show that these episodes are all intimately connected and were selected to illustrate the problems faced by Jacob in coping with the sibling rivalries among his dozen sons and welding them into a collective body capable of giving birth to a nation. The focus in Jacob and His Sons is on what the biblical text is telling us, explicitly as well as implicitly, about the world in which they lived and how the historical conditions came into being for them ultimately to become transformed into a nation. In the struggle to comprehend the biblical text, the author has consulted a wide range of commentaries and studies written over a period of some two millennia that have sought to understand the biblical texts from a wide variety of perspectives, many of which are presented for the reader's consideration, including many sources inaccessible to those without a working knowledge of Hebrew.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51281727684881,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51281729257745,"sku":"NIN9780595446155","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52336226304273,"sku":"NLS9780595446155","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0595446159.jpg?v=1750743184"},{"product_id":"reading-the-pentateuch-politically-from-abraham-to-moses-book-martin-sicker-9781669827696","title":"Reading the Pentateuch Politically; from Abraham to Moses","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51284341260561,"sku":"NIN9781669827696","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52435350126865,"sku":"NLS9781669827696","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1669827690.jpg?v=1751343709"},{"product_id":"aspects-of-jewish-metarational-thought-book-martin-sicker-9780595350346","title":"Aspects of Jewish Metarational Thought","description":"Judaism has always had adherents that, driven by both awe and love of God, strove to penetrate the mystery of divine wisdom and grasp what the philosopher deemed to be beyond the reach of man's rational faculty, as well as to explore other mysteries that seem to leap out from the pages of Scripture. \u003cp\u003e These metarational leaps of intellect and imagination generally fit into the categories of the exoteric and the esoteric, referring to teachings traditionally considered suitable for public instruction and those deemed inappropriate for such purpose. The exoteric includes those attempts at intellectually and spiritually bridging the gap between God and man, that one finds strewn throughout the pages of the classical literature of Judaism. The esoteric includes those speculations and practices that have been more or less systematized and formulated and presented as mystical doctrines, that have been characterized since the Middle Ages as Kabbalah.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The opening chapters of Aspects of Jewish Metarational Thought consider the question of the relationship between finite man and the unknowable God, and how the divine-human communication essential to that relationship takes place. Other chapters consider the purpose behind human existence and the critical aspects of the biblical account of the creation, issues relating to the idea of a visionary ascent to the celestial realm, the influence of metarational considerations on normative Jewish religious practice, and the special attributes believed to inhere in the Hebrew language and the role that these have played in metarational biblical interpretation from antiquity to the present.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51298618769681,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51298621292817,"sku":"NIN9780595350346","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52144513024273,"sku":"NLS9780595350346","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0595350348.jpg?v=1750912160"},{"product_id":"convocation-at-sinai-book-martin-sicker-9780595514816","title":"The Convocation at Sinai","description":"The biblical narrative of the revelatory events at Mount Sinai, and the covenant with God entered into by the children of Israel, deals with the critical formative event in the religious and cultural history of ancient Israel. However, the narrative also contains a number of enigmatic passages that have long troubled readers of Scripture. In this book, the author undertakes to unravel some of these enigmas and to show how they contribute to a fuller understanding of the narrative. The focus in \u003ci\u003eThe Convocation at Sinai\u003c\/i\u003e is on what the biblical text is telling us, explicitly as well as implicitly, about the world in which the ancient Israelites became transformed from a mass of ethnically related people into a nation bound by a divine covenant, and the extraordinary role that the covenant between God and Israel played in the creation of the religious civilization known as Judaism. In the effort to comprehend and explain the highly complex biblical text, the author has consulted a wide range of commentaries and studies written over a period of some two millennia that have sought to understand the biblical texts from a wide variety of perspectives, many of which are presented for the reader's consideration, including many sources inaccessible to those without a working knowledge of Hebrew.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51298659860753,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51298663989521,"sku":"NIN9780595514816","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52138246045969,"sku":"NLS9780595514816","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0595514812.jpg?v=1751198784"},{"product_id":"reflections-on-issues-in-judaic-law-and-lore-book-martin-sicker-9781669868293","title":"Reflections on Issues in Judaic Law and Lore","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51306137190673,"sku":"NIN9781669868293","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52678368362769,"sku":"NLS9781669868293","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/166986829X.jpg?v=1751089904"},{"product_id":"political-culture-of-judaism-book-martin-sicker-9780275974299","title":"The Political Culture of Judaism","description":"Sicker examines the fundamental norms of civic conduct considered essential to the emergence and moral viability of the good society envisioned in the source documents and traditions of Judaism. The principles underlying the desired behavioral norms constitute the ethical underpinnings of the unique civilization envisioned by Mosaic teaching, a Judaic civilization characterized by instituted norms of civil conduct deemed necessary to ensure appropriate civil relations between persons, individually and collectively.The tensions in Judaic thought regarding the concept of democracy as a paradigm for Judaic government are examined, including the theological as well as moral implications of democracy that cast doubt on its appropriateness as a political ideal. Sicker considers the role of popular consent as a legitimating factor in the Judaic polity, and the distinctively Judaic approach to the ordering of civil relations in society within the constitutional context of a nomocratic regime based on halakhah, Judaism's own dynamic system of canon law. Three fundamental societal issues are then explored.  The status of the individual within the properly constituted society and the relationship of the citizen to the state. Included in this discussion is the question of the legitimacy of civil disobedience. Sicker examines the practical implications for public policy of the Judaic imperatives regarding social justice and the idea of prescriptive equality. He then takes a hard look at the classical Judaic approach to dealing with the problems of ensuring national security within the context of Judaic norms.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52125941301521,"sku":"NLS9780275974299","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780275974299.jpg?v=1757470075"},{"product_id":"biblical-creation-narrative-book-martin-sicker-9780595389872","title":"The Biblical Creation Narrative","description":"This study of the biblical creation narrative, and the wide variety of ways in which it has been interpreted over more than two millennia, is based on the thesis that, notwithstanding its mythopoeic presentation, the essential purpose of the biblical author is to set forth the most essential elements of a political theology, elaborated further through the other narratives and constitutional writings contained in the remainder of the Torah or Pentateuch, that is to serve as the basis upon which an ideal moral and just civilization was to emerge.\u003cp\u003e Approaching the biblical creation narrative from a political perspective entails dealing with a number of significant interpretive issues, one of which is the basic difference in approach to the text historically taken most Jewish and Christian scholars. For many of the latter, the Hebrew Bible, which Christianity dubs the Old Testament, is in its entirety sacred history, whereas for Judaism it is the Torah, the source document of the spiritual, cultural, and mundane history of Israel as a people and nation, the primary perspective reflected in this book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The Biblical Creation Narrative explores a number of key interpretive issues that emerge from the text, such as the question of whether its speaks of creation from nothing, the significance of the divine name used in the narrative, the distinctions between the terms, created, made, and formed that are used to describe the creative process, and the meaning of the assertion that God rested on the seventh day, as well as some of the political implications of the narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52125964861713,"sku":"NLS9780595389872","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52735934005521,"sku":"NIN9780595389872","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780595389872.jpg?v=1757470328"},{"product_id":"idea-of-justice-in-judaism-book-martin-sicker-9780595393152","title":"The Idea of Justice in Judaism","description":"Justice is a theme that courses throughout the literature of Judaism, and yet, it would be difficult to find anything beyond an occasional journal or book article that directly addresses the subject for a variety of reasons that are discussed in this book. Writing on a topic like justice in Judaism entails a number of special problems. Because there are no classical traditional works specifically addressed to the subject, notwithstanding that the idea of justice pervades the entire corpus of Judaic literature, one must in effect construct a theory of what the ancients and their disciples through the ages meant when they spoke of justice. And this can only be done by gathering and analyzing numerous isolated teachings and statements found strewn throughout the vast biblical and rabbinic literature, a process that militates against discussion of their various implications in a straightforward contemporary essay style presentation. 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There are over 1000 examples, not counting the predicate and genitive versions, a significant collection.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Introduction discusses the parts and types of similes as well as other similar figures of speech (e.g., analogies, comparisons and metaphors); examples are provided of prothetic (\u003ci\u003eprosthesis \u003c\/i\u003eexpressed: he runs like a panther) and non-prothetic types (\u003ci\u003eprothesis \u003c\/i\u003eimplied: he is  like] a lion in savagery). The Conclusion points out various aspects of Biblical usage, some differing from those in classical Greek authors (Homer and Plato). 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The term story rather than history of the transition is employed to describe the subject because the biblical book is a history only in the very special sense of prophetic history, which bears little relationship to history in the modern sense of the term. The distinguishing feature of prophetic history is that it is written from a prophetic perspective with a particular purpose in mind, namely, to illustrate to later generations of the children of Israel the historical consequences of failure by its political and religious leaders to observe and comply with the terms of the divine covenant entered into between God and the children of Israel. The story related in the Second Book of Samuel is based on events that were popularly believed to have taken place, but as perceived through a prophetic prism. 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Suleiman then concluded that, given the increasingly volatile geopolitical environment, Muslim expansionism in Eurasia had run its course. The subsequent decline of Ottoman power also meant, in effect, the decline of political Islam, which had been intimately bound to it for centuries.    As Sicker shows, the problems faced by the Ottoman Empire were also faced by the Persian Empire and both underwent an extended period of political decline and territorial retrenchment in the face of imperialist pressures from Europe and Asia. The greatest challenge to the world of political Islam came from Western Europe, especially France and Great Britain. The Ottoman and Persian empires assumed a global importance in the 19th century, not because of anything in them of intrinsic economic value, but because of their geopolitical and geostrategic significance. They became, in effect, a buffer zone separating Europe from the wealth of the East, at a time when European imperialism was on the march in Asia. It thus came about that the rivalries of the Great Powers, most especially those of Great Britain, France, and Russia, were played out in the Middle East. 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In a critique of much modern political theory, Sicker reexamines the essential idea of the state as well as its purpose as understood from a variety of perspectives, a subject that has largely been neglected over the past several decades as a subject of interest to political theorists in the United States. He then considers the relationship of the state to its constituents, a subject that leads to a discussion of rights and obligations, and whether that relationship is defined entirely by the state or whether its constituents are endowed with natural rights that are independent of the state that the state must take into account in asserting its authority. This is followed by an extensive discussion of the corollary concepts of generic, social, political, and economic equality, and concludes with a consideration of some ideas that might serve as the motivating principles of an orthocratic state.  The treatment of equality developed by Sicker differs in a number of respects from the approach taken in a good deal of modern writing on political theory, much of which is primarily concerned with the question of individual liberty. However, he argues equality must necessarily take precedence over liberty in the hierarchy of social values, that the primary social value is not liberty but equality, and that the claim of a right to individual liberty is clearly predicated on the presumed equality of men in society. 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The imperialist phase, which began in the nineteenth century and lasted until the end of World War II, was followed by the cold war between the Soviet Union and the West that continued to the beginning of the 1990s. The last phase, which began with the demise of the Soviet Union, is still taking shape. These stages may overlap and, in some instances, unfold simultaneously, developments within the region being shaped and constrained by extra-regional forces for extra-regional purposes.    The sovereignty and independence of the states of the region has been limited in varying degrees by the wishes, needs, interests, and ambitions of the major powers. The geopolitical considerations have varied over time, being very different in the period between the world wars than in the period of intense East-West rivalry that followed, with the present post-cold war era being radically different from what preceded it. 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Directly challenging prevailing beliefs of diminished Soviet interest in Iran or the Persian Gulf, Sicker asserts that the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, their history of interest in the area, and the region's growing geopolitical significance all enhance the probability of a Soviet move to bring Iran into its sphere of influence. Moreover, Sicker demonstrates Soviet goals in the area are long term and are not subject to revision as a consequence of temporary setbacks or a change in Soviet leadership. Students and policymakers will find The Bear and the Lion both a realistic appraisal of the importance of Iran to the Soviet Union and a comprehensive historical analysis of the roots of that interest.    Sicker begins by examining the era of tsarist expansionism, demonstrating that Russia's strategic interest in Iran can be traced back as far as the reign of Peter the Great. 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In providing a rare systematic study of rabbinic political thinking -- as well as a basis for study of how its underlying theory might apply to contemporary political areanas -- The Judaic State proves to be valuable material to scholars of political philosophy, religion and society, and Jewish studies.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52335641690385,"sku":"NLS9780275928452","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780275928452.jpg?v=1758160659"},{"product_id":"making-of-a-pariah-state-book-martin-sicker-9780275926670","title":"The Making of a Pariah State","description":"The Making of a Pariah State takes the reader behind the flamboyance and apparent irrationality of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to expose his attempt to impose national cohesion on the Arab, Muslim, and Third World elements under his leadership. 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Sicker does not consider this as just another academic question: The citizen's moral obligation to obey the state is intimately related to the legitimacy of the state's authority and the latter depends largely on its sources. This work examines several major approaches to the question of the genesis of political authority that are reflected in the works of a wide range of philosophers and thinkers throughout the ages. Sicker concludes his work with a serviceable contemporary answer.  Sicker draws upon western and non-Western sources to illustrate the diverse formulations of theories on the genesis of the state. His intent is to promote insight into the true nature of the state and the basis for its intrusion into our individual and societal lives. Towards this effort, he discounts the conventional notion which treats the several theoretical formulations as overlapping developmental stages of political theory. 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This ultimately led to religious persecution as a state policy. Subsequently, the Persian Sassanid Empire adopted Zoroastrianism as the state religion for the same purpose and with the same result. Later, when Armenia adopted Christianity as the state religion, followed soon after by the Roman Empire, religion and the intolerance it tended to breed became fundamental ingredients, in regional politics and have remained such ever since. Sicker shows that the political history of the pre-Islamic Middle East provides ample evidence that the geopolitical and religious factors conditioning political decision-making tended to promote military solutions to political problems, making conflict resolution through war the norm, with the peaceful settlement of disputes quite rare. 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He demonstrates that such factors have contributed heavily to establishing the patterns of state development and interstate relations in the Western Hemisphere throughout its modern history. The prevailing geopolitical environment has been conditioned to a large extent by the emergence of the United States as the unquestionably dominant power in the extensive region. However, that status did not exist at the time it achieved its independence. It was brought about through almost incessant conflict with, and expansion at the expense of, other states, nations, and peoples over more than a century. As a result, the concerns and interests of the dominant power became and remain, of necessity, factors that states beyond the borders of the United States must take into consideration when pursuing their own national interests and policies. As Sicker amply demonstrates, failure to do so will often produce undesirable consequences for the offending state.    As is clear, however, the states of the hemisphere have their own geopolitical interests and concerns independent of, and sometimes conflicting with, those of the United States. As Sicker shows throughout the volume, and especially in his analysis of inter-American conflicts, many of the nations of Latin America have unresolved territorial controversies with their neighbors that date to their origins as independent states. Because of this troubled geopolitical legacy, there have been numerous conflicts among the states of Latin America, some of which the United States has attempted to mediate or arbitrate, and some that seem impervious to a permanent negotiated settlement. 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What the narrative also illustrates is the challenge of exercising the effective central leadership essential to containing the centripetal social forces that tended to impede the transition from a tribal confederacy to a unified nation, a challenge that purportedly caused an eleven-day trip from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land to take thirty-eight years to complete.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52431252422929,"sku":"NLS9781496960993","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53403148615953,"sku":"NIN9781496960993","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781496960993.jpg?v=1759171970"},{"product_id":"second-book-of-kings-book-martin-sicker-9781984533586","title":"The Second Book of Kings","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52475909177617,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52475910357265,"sku":"NLS9781984533586","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781984533586.jpg?v=1759843248"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-martin-sicker.oembed?page=3","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}