"So, what did the Muslims do for the Jews?"

Professor David Wasserman argues that "in 570 CE, when the Prophet Mohammad was born, the Jews and Judaism were on the way to oblivion. And second, the coming of Islam saved them, providing a new context in which they not only survived, but flourished, laying foundations for subsequent Jewish cultural prosperity - also in Christendom - through the medieval period into the modern world."

David Wasserman is the Eugene Greener Jr Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University. This article from the Jewish Chronicle is adapted from last week's Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Stone-carving in Bamiyan

An article from the Guardian about the Afghan students who are learning the stone-working traditions that made the Bamiyan Valley famous

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Digitized Coptic publications by Oscar von Lemm

The Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow has made available a range of publications by the distinguished Russian Coptologist and Egyptologist, Oscar von Lemm (1856-1918)
The collection includes 35 documents (Koptische Miscellen and other Coptic studies) appearing in the Bulletin de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.-Pétersbourg between 1898 and 1915

CLICK  HERE TO ACCESS THE COLLECTIONS

or alternatively visit Alin Suciu's blog Coptica Online for the links and more on Coptic Studies

New web resource: Theological Commons from Princeton Theological Seminary

To celebrate its 200th Anniversary, Princeton Theological Seminary has launched an open-access collection of digital and non-digital material held in the Seminary's Library.
Material in the collection dates from circa 975 to the 20th century and as well as covering Christianity, mission studies and theology, there are also substantial holdings on the Eastern Church, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism.
The collection is in a database format, so searches for particular topics can be refined by date, language and keyword etc.

CLICK HERE TO TRY OUT THIS NEW RESOURCE

A link will shortly be appearing on the Library web subject guide for Religions, under Electronic Publications

What is "Islamic Art"?

Souren Melikan's New York Times article looks at the myriad artistic traditions and cultures that tend to be classified as "Islamic" in Western museums and galleries

Martyrs, apostles and relics

This article from the National Geographic magazine looks at the early evangelizing phase of Christianity.
The first part focuses on the Thomas Christians of Kerala, while the following sections focus on the psychology of relics and the cult of martyrs by examining Saint Mark's significance to Venice and the shrine to Mary Magdalene at Sainte-Baume in southern France

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A Jewish kingdom in Arabia

Professor Glen Bowersock of the School of Historical Studies (Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton) writes on the rise and fall of the little known Jewish kingdom of Himyar which flourished in what is now Yemen between the 5th and 6th centuries C.E.

CLICK HERE TO READ PROFESSOR BOWERSOCK'S ARTICLE

His book on the subject, entitled The Adulis throne, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press