{"product_id":"a-sufijewish-dialogue-9780812239539","title":"A SufiJewish Dialogue","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten in Judeo-Arabic in eleventh-century Muslim Spain but quickly translated into Hebrew, Bahya Ibn Paquda''s \u003ci\u003eDuties of the Heart\u003c\/i\u003e is a profound guidebook of Jewish spirituality that has enjoyed tremendous popularity and influence to the present day. Readers who know the book primarily in its Hebrew version have likely lost sight of the work''s original Arabic context and its immersion in Islamic mystical literature. In \u003ci\u003eA Sufi-Jewish Dialogue\u003c\/i\u003e, Diana Lobel explores the full extent to which \u003ci\u003eDuties of the Heart\u003c\/i\u003e marks the flowering of the Jewish-Arab symbiosis, the interpenetration of Islamic and Jewish civilizations.\u003cbr\u003eLobel reveals Bahya as a maverick who integrates abstract negative theology, devotion to the inner life, and an intimate relationship with a personal God. Bahya emerges from her analysis as a figure so steeped in Islamic traditions that an Arabic reader could easily think he was a Muslim, yet the traditional Jewish seeker has always looked to hi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An ambitious attempt to fill a long-standing lacuna in the history of Jewish thought by presenting a synthesis and evaluation of Bahya in his intellectual context. It draws on over a century of scholarship, suggests some new sources for Bahya and new readings of old sources, and offers an interpretation of his thought.\" * Charles H. Manekin, University of Maryland *\u003cbr\u003e\"This manuscript contains a subtle, probing, and rich exposition of the key issue of devotional self-examination within Jewish and Islamic mysticism. The author has a superb sense of Arabic, Sufi mystical psychology, and the extraordinary dialogue (sometimes openly acknowledged, often left unacknowledged) among Jewish, Islamic, Christian, and Greek traditions at the time of Ibn Paquda.\" * Michael Sells, University of Chicago *\u003cbr\u003e\"Lobel illustrates the power of philology in the best sense. Her critical ear for the nuances and history of Arabo- Islamic terminology . . . enables her to probe the deep structural penetration of Sufi ideas in the work of Jewish thinkers and seekers. To put it another way, \u003ci\u003eA Sufi-Jewish Dialogue\u003c\/i\u003e traces the process by which Arabo-Islamic conceptual frames are imported into Judaism through shared use of the Arabic language. . . . Lobel is keenly attuned to the historical dimension of the work and its place in the cultural and intellectual history of the Jews of al-Andalus and all of Islam.\" * \u003ci\u003eThe Medieval Review\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003e Introduction:Bahya's Work in Its Judeo-Arabic Context\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Philosophical Mysticism in Eleventh-Century Spain: Bahya and Ibn Gabirol\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. On the Lookout: The Exegesis of a Sufi Tale\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Creation\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. The One\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Speaking about God: Divine Attributes, Biblical Language, and Biblical Exegesis\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. The Contemplation of Creation (I'tibār)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 7. Wholehearted Devotion (Ikhlās): Purification of Unity (Ikhlās al-Tawhid), Purification of Intention in Action (Ikhlās al-'Amal)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 8. Reason, Law, and the Way of the Spirit\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 9. The Spirituality of the Law Chapter 10. Awareness, Love, and Reverence (Murāqaba, Mahabba, Hayba\/Yir'ah)\u003cbr\u003e List of Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405712925015,"sku":"9780812239539","price":59.4,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780812239539.jpg?v=1730493370","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/a-sufijewish-dialogue-9780812239539","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}