The American Ecclesiastical Review Volume 27, No. 2; A Monthly Publication for the Clergy (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 Excerpt: ...the same time, they can hardly claim any exclusive share of our attention, and there is, perhaps, little likelihood of their being taken for more than their real value. So many other fields have now been opened up around us, that the great body of Hebrew tradition and Rabbinical lore and legends can thus be seen in a truer perspective. Zend and Sanskrit studies, and the publication of the Sacred Books of the East, enable the student to follow the course of some other religious histories that present some curious points of analogy with the literature of Judaism. And on another side the change has been yet more remarkable. The name of Babylon is writ large in the pages of the Talmud: the language, and something more than the language, is of Babylonian origin. But Rabbinical scholars of an earlier generation could have little or no knowledge of Babylon save that which came through the Bible, or through Jewish traditions. It is far otherwise now, when the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions has thrown a fresh flood of light on the history and literature of Assyria and Babylonia. It is true that this forms a distinct branch of learning, which is almost necessarily in the hands of specialists. But, at the same time, the student in the one field cannot afford to be ignorant of the work done in another so nearly related to his own. The " Higher Critics" of the Sacred Text have to reckon with the evidence of the monuments. And it may well be hoped that the recovery of these ancient records will eventually help to enlarge and enlighten the field of Rabbinical studies. W. H. Kent, O.S.C. London, England. E SAOEA POENITENTIARIA. Rel1g1osae, 1n Commun1tate V1ventes, Conf1ter1 Possunt Qu1l1bet Confessar1o Pro Utroque Sexu Adprobato, Quando Extra Monaster...