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Although Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali lived a relatively short life (1058-1111), he established himself as one of the most important thinkers in the history of Islam. The Incoherence of the Philosophers, written after more than a decade of travel and ascetic contemplation, contends that while such Muslim philosophers as Avicenna boasted of unassailable arguments on matters of theology and metaphysics, they could not deliver on their claims; moreover, many of their assertions represented disguised heresy and unbelief. Despite its attempted refutation by the twelfth-century philosopher Ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali's work remains widely read and influential.

Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali's philosophical explorations covered nearly the entire spectrum of twelfth-century beliefs. Beginning his career as a skeptic, he ended it as a scholar of mysticism and orthodoxy. The Niche of Lights, written near the end of his illustrious career, advances the philosophically important idea that reason can serve as a connection between the devout and God. Al-Ghazali argues that abstracting God from the world, as he believed theologians did, was not sufficient for understanding. Exploring the boundary between philosophy and theology, The Niche of Lights seeks to understand the role of reality in the perception of the spiritual.

Averroës, the greatest Aristotelian of the Islamic philosophical tradition, composed some thirty-eight commentaries on the "First Teacher's" corpus, including three separate treatments of De Anima ("On the Soul"): the works commonly referred to as the Short, Middle, and Long Commentaries. The Middle Commentary—actually Averroës's last writing on the text-remains one of his most refined and politically discreet treatments of Aristotle, offering modern readers Averroës's final statement on the material intellect and conjunction as well as an accessible historical window on Aristotle's work as it was interpreted and transmitted in the medieval period.

Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi was born around 1154, probably in Northwestern Iran. Spurred by a dream in which Aristotle appeared to him, he rejected the Avicennan Peripatetic philosophy of his youth and undertook the task of reviving the philosophical tradition of the "Ancients." His philosophy grants an epistemological role to immediate and atemporal intuition. It is explicitly anti-Peripatetic and is identified with the pre-Aristotelian sages, particularly Plato.

Averroës (Ibn Rushd, 1126-1198) emerged from an eminent family in Muslim Spain to become the first and last great Aristotelian of the classical Islamic world; his meticulous commentaries influenced Christian thinkers and earned him favorable mention (and a relatively pleasant fate) in Dante's Divina Commedia. The Book of the Decisive Treatise was and remains one his most important works and one of history's best defenses of the legitimate role of reason in a community of faith. The text presents itself as a plea before a tribunal in which the divinely revealed Law of Islam is the sole authority; Averroës, critical of the anti-philosophical tone of the Islamic establishment, argues that the Law not only permits but also mandates the study of philosophy and syllogistic or logical reasoning, defending earlier Muslim philosophers and dismissing criticisms of them as more harmful to the Islamic community than the philosophers' own views had been. As he details the three fundamental methods the Law uses to aid people of varied capacities and temperaments, Averroës reveals a carefully formed and remarkably argued conception of the boundaries and uses of faith and reason.

Written in 1199 at the request of al-Qadi al-Fadil, the famous counselor and secretary to Saladin, "On Poisons and the Protection against Lethal Drugs" is distinguished rabbi Moses Maimonides' guide to emergency first aid and readily available antidotes. This treatise - assembled from the existing medical literature as well as Maimonides' own practice - proved highly influential amongst scholars and laypersons in both Jewish and non-Jewish circles alike. Although "On Poisons" survives in several Arabic and Judeo-Arabic manuscripts, this is the first finished critical edition of the Arabic. The volume also includes critical editions of the medieval Hebrew and Latin translations and a glossary of materia medica and technical terms. It will be essential for the shelves of scholars interested in Maimonides and medieval medicine.

"Avicenna's Physics" is the very first volume that he wrote when he began his monumental encyclopedia of science and philosophy, "The Healing". Avicenna's reasons for beginning with "Physics" are numerous: it offers up the principles needed to understand such special natural sciences as psychology; it sets up many of the problems that take center stage in his Metaphysics; and it provides concrete examples of many of the abstract analytical tools that he would develop later in "Logic". While "Avicenna's Physics" roughly follows the thought of "Aristotle's Physics", with its emphasis on natural causes, the nature of motion, and the conditions necessary for motion, the work is hardly derivative. It represents arguably the most brilliant mind of late antiquity grappling with and rethinking the entire tradition of natural philosophy inherited from the Greeks as well as the physical thought of Muslim speculative theologians. As such, "Physics" is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding Avicenna's complete philosophical system, the history of science, or the history of ideas.

Education has always been an important pursuit in Islam. The Prophet Muhammad enjoined his followers to 'seek knowledge, even unto China.' Within the religion, educational theory and practice were founded on the work of itinerant teachers who taught the fundamental tenets of the faith in exchange for lodging and other services; Qur'anic schools where masters of the Qur'an tutored pupils; and centers of higher learning in Baghdad, Damascus, Alexandria, and elsewhere, where Islamic theology and jurisprudence were developed and taught. In this volume, Bradley J. Cook, with assistance from Fathi H. Malkawi, has drawn together and introduced selections from the writings of eminent Islamic thinkers on the subject of Islamic educational efforts, presenting the original Arabic texts alongside their annotated English translations.

This book is the second of two volumes that deal with the surviving Joseph Smith papyri fragments. The subject of the first volume was The Hor Book of Breathings. This second volume deals with the remaining fragments that consist of Books of the Dead belonging to two women-Tshemmin and Neferirnub. This volume contains a detailed description of the papyri as well as a transcription, translation, and commentary of all the surviving text. The appendices include color plates with hieroglyphic transcriptions of the hieratic text, a glossary of gods, place names, etc., and a complete glossary of all Egyptian words found in the surviving text. The editor of this volume, Michael D. Rhodes, is an associate research professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. He is a coauthor of One Eternal Round, the last volume in the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley series.

On Rules Regarding the Practical Part of the Medical Art had been labeled a copy of On Asthma by bio-bibliographer Moritz Steinchneider, but a closer examination of the manuscript by Gerrit Bos and Tzvi Langermann has revealed the treatise to be a previously unrecognized work of the great philosopher-physician Moses Maimonides. The publication of this translation marks the first time the Arabic manuscript with English translation has been available to a modern audience in any form. It is in Maimonides' favored aphoristic format and contains some unique advice on serious abdominal wounds, which is most likely a reflection on Maimonides' own experience with battlefield casualties.

Mulla Sadra (ca. 1572-1640) is one of the most prominent figures of post-Avicennan Islamic philosophy and among the most important philosophers of Safavid Persia. He was a prolific writer whose work advanced the fields of intellectual and religious science in Islamic philosophy, but arguably his most important contribution to Islamic philosophy is in the study of existence (wujud) and its application to such areas as cosmology, epistemology, psychology, and eschatology. Sadra represents a paradigm shift from the Aristotelian metaphysics of fixed substances, which had dominated Islamic philosophy, to an analysis of existence as the ultimate ground and dynamic source of things. He posits that all beings derive their reality and truth from their wujud and that a proper philosophical analysis must therefore start and eventually end with it. The present work's focus on Sadra's gradational ontology provides a strong foundation for the reader to understand Sadra's other works and later texts by philosophers working in the same field. This edition contains parallel English-Arabic texts and a new translation by preeminent scholar of Islamic philosophy Seyyed Hossein Nasr.

This fourth volume of the critical edition of the medical aphorisms compiled by Maimonides (1138-1204) covers treatises sixteen to twenty-one. The central subjects of these treatises include women's diseases, physical exercise, bathing, foods, and the consumption of drugs. Most of the aphorisms featured in this volume are based on the works of Galen, but Maimonides also quotes from other ancient and medieval physicians, including some whose work does not survive in any other source. This edition provides both the Arabic text and an authoritative English translation by Gerrit Bos in parallel-column format.

Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) wrote many philosophical, legal, and medical works. Of these, Medical Aphorisms is among his best known. Consisting of approximately fifteen hundred maxims from the ancient Greek physician Galen, it is arranged as twenty-five treatises organized according to traditional medieval subspecialties such as gyoecology, hygiene, and diet. Because the source texts no longer survive, Maimonides' version provides vital clues about Galen's thought that would otherwise remain unknown. This critical edition includes both the definitive Arabic text and a masterly English translation.

The Armenian Church Synaxarion is a collection of saints' lives according to the day of the year on which each saint is celebrated. Part of the great and varied Armenian liturgical tradition from the turn of the first millennium, the first Armenian Church Synaxarion represented the logical culmination of a long and steady development of what is today called the cult of the saints. This book is the second in a twelve-volume series-one for each month of the year-and is ideal for personal devotional use or as a valuable resource for anyone interested in saints.

The literary works of ninth-century scholar Dawud al-Muqammas, who converted from Judaism to Christianity and then back to Judaism, reflect his pioneering approaches during a formative time in Jewish and Muslim medieval philosophy. A master of diverse genres, he composed in the ninth century, among other works, the thoughtful Twenty Chapters, which is not only the first known Jewish Kalam text, but also the earliest extant theological summa written in Arabic. This authoritative edition includes the full Judeo-Arabic text in Arabic letter transcription with a facing English translation, as well as an introduction, notes, bibliography, and index.

Moshe ben Maimon, or Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), remains one of the most celebrated rabbis in this history of Judaism; his numerous writings include philosophical and medical treatises in Arabic, two of history's most important works on Jewish law, and, most notably, efforts to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with biblical teaching. The Complete Medical Works, edited by Gerrit Bos of the Martin-Buber-Institut fur Judaistik at the University of Cologne, collects the entirety of Maimonides's medical writings.Notwithstanding its title, On Asthma is in fact a complete regimen of health, designed for the needs of a high-ranking patient whose identity is not stated. In true Galenic fashion, Maimonides stresses that a healthy lifestyle and diet are the most important preventative measures against chronic illness such as asthma. Good and bad foods are described in detail, and many recipes for beneficial dishes and drugs are included, with Maimonides adapting Galenic regimens to the needs of his Muslim patient.

Maimonides, one of the most celebrated rabbis in the history of Judaism, was a prolific author of influential Arabic philosophical and medical treatises as well as two of the most important works on Jewish law. "Medical Aphorisms" is the best-known and most comprehensive of his medical works, and "Gerrit Bos" offers here a masterful English translation with detailed annotations. "Medical Aphorisms" consists of approximately 1,500 maxims compiled by Maimonides from the treatises of Galen, the renowned ancient Greek physician. Maimonides arranges the aphorisms into twenty-five treatises, organizing them by traditional medieval subspecialties such as gynecology, hygiene, and diet. He also includes a section examining unusual cases from Galen and offers a critical analysis of Galen's theories. The second of six volumes, "Medical Aphorisms: Treatises 6-9" provides tantalizing insights into the work of Galen and the world of medieval medicine. It will be a rich and valuable resource for students and scholars working in the history of medicine, Jewish studies, and medieval Arabic culture.

Moses Maimonides (1138-1204), one of the most celebrated rabbis in the history of Judaism, was a prolific author of influential Arabic philosophical and medical treatises as well as two of the most important works on Jewish law. A companion to the English translation and Arabic text presented in the first volume of "On Asthma", this volume offers Gerrit Bos' critical editions of all three surviving medieval Hebrew translations of Maimonides' work: one allegedly prepared by the fourteenth-century physician Samuel Benveniste, who served Don Manuel, brother of King Pedro IV of Aragon; a second by Joshua Shatibi from Jativa between the years 1379 and 1390, for the referendary Fernan Diaz of Toledo at the court of King Juan II of Castile; and a third by an anonymous translator, possibly in the thirteenth century.The volume also contains critical editions by Michael R. McVaugh of the two medieval Latin translations of Maimonides' treatise, one probably made by Giovanni da Capua at Rome circa 1300 and the other begun by Armengaud Blaise in Montpellier in 1294 but completed eight years later. It concludes with a section of addenda and corrigenda to the first volume.

In the "Critique of Christian Origins" Abd al-Jabbar - a leading Muslim intellectual of the late tenth century - develops what might be considered the first Islamic history of Christianity, analyzing the Bible, church rituals, and miracles. Unlike Muslim scholars before him, Abd al-Jabbar criticizes Christianity not only theologically but also on historical grounds. He argues that the schemes of secular and religious leaders led to the suppression of the Islamic religion of Jesus and the creation of Christianity in its place. "The Critique of Christian Origins" contains a wealth of information on the ideological contours of Abd al-Jabbar's time, including perspectives on Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and several sects within Islam itself, in addition to Christianity. This edition, which includes a fully vocalized Arabic edition of the text and a complete English translation accompanied by detailed explanatory notes, a glossary, a bibliography, and three indexes, makes this important work readily accessible to students and specialists alike.

In July 1835 at Kirtland Ohio, a traveling antiquities dealer brought to Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, four Egyptian mummies and several rolls of papyri. Upon inspection Smith determined that one of the rolls contained a lost record of the patriarch Abraham. After purchasing these artifacts for $2400 Smith generated through translation five chapters that appeared during March 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois in the Times and Seasons, a Mormon periodical, under the title “The Book of Abraham”. This book has since become a canonized text of scripture for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.A Textual History of the Book of Abraham: Manuscripts and Editions serves as a source book for interested researchers and scholars. It includes a brief introduction to the Book of Abraham and a detailed record of textual variants from the time it first appeared in the Times and Seasons until its latest edition (1981). This volume also produces for the first time typographic transcriptions with facing grayscale images of the surviving handwritten manuscripts of the Book of Abraham. Several appendices offer additional helpful resources such as contemporary accounts related to the translation of the Book of Abraham and a full set of color high-res images of the surviving Abraham manuscripts. This book will be a valuable reference tool for scholars interested in researching the textual history of the Book of Abraham