Extensive Qur'anic and Hadith references explain the condition of the soul at each stage.

    To help us get back on track, she examines the Bible: a theological and historical record of hundreds of years in which two communities of faith (Jewish and early Christian) explored their own life experiences. Our task now is not to ask which interpretations are correct, but to ask "what did it mean to them" and "what does it mean for us?" Dozier encourages us to see Christianity not as creed or institution, but as "the vision of a new possibility for human life rooted in an ancient understanding of God and lived out by a Nazarene carpenter."Through adept storytelling and study, Dozier reawakens our sense of calling and our desire for truth.

    In this important new book Professor Sanders, whose Paul and Palestinian Judaism changed the course of Pauline studies, again argues against the prevailing views. He believes that flaws in method have produced a false impression of the Judaism of the period, for example, that the Pharisees were all-important and actually ran Jewish Palestine or that the Mishnah offers a description of general practice. In contrast, through thorough examination of the sources and by means of case studies, Sanders shows that what was important was 'common Judaism', the people and their observances, daily, weekly, seasonal and annual practices and the beliefs that bore directly on them. Early rabbinic legal material should be seen not as a set of rules, but as debates to be set within the context of real life, and parties such as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes must be seen in proper relation to the Judaism of ordinary priests and people. Here then is a remarkably comprehensive presentation of Judaism as a functioning religion: the temple and its routine and festivals; questions of purity, sacrifices, tithes and taxes; common theology and hopes for the future; and descriptions of the various parties and groups culminating in an examination of the question 'who ran what?'. No other work offers such a detailed, clear and well argued account of all aspects of Jewish religion of the time. Written in a style easily accessible to any interested reader as well as to scholars, this book provides the major resource for study of Palestinian Judaism, whether by Jews or Christians, for years to come.