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The thrust of this article is to examine three key manifestations of the criteria for identifying and evaluating the status of a prophet in Jewish polemic. The first is a survey and analysis of the use by medieval Jewish and Christian polemicists of the Deuteronomic verses, setting forth these criteria with the objective of demonstrating or disproving the messianic status of Jesus. The second is the Jewish affirmation of the primacy of Mosaic prophecy, with its implications for the doctrine that the Torah will never be superseded. Here there are consequences for polemic with both Christians and Muslims. This discussion will lead us to examine the Jewish affirmation that Moses is unique as the sole prophet of Torah with primary attention to a problem that has elicited much discussion among scholars of medieval Jewish philosophy. How is it that Gersonides (1288–1344), who denied that God knows particulars, including specific human beings, was able to affirm without qualification that no prophet other than Moses would be able to achieve the status of Torah prophet? In this context, we shall be impelled to raise questions about the parameters of Gersonides’ basic position regarding divine responsiveness or non-responsiveness to human stimuli and the degree to which exegetical and theological pressures might have led him to deviate from it. In light of his uncompromising position affirming the uniqueness of Moses as a Torah prophet, we shall also have to address his atypical and apparently problematic understanding of what is arguably the most important Biblical passage in the medieval Jewish-Christian debate. Christians maintained that the so-called suffering servant in Isaiah 52:13–53:12 is the Messiah and that the description there accords perfectly with his redemptive mission. Most medieval Jews, especially in Christian Europe, responded to the Christian reading by identifying the serv-ant as the prophet, another prophet, or, most commonly, the Jewish collective. Maimonides, who lived in a Muslim environment, does use the terminology of Isaiah 52:13 in describing the Messiah; Gersonides who lived among Christians, not only does the same but, unlike Maimonides, asserts that he will be a prophet superior to Moses. Nonetheless, despite this apparently disconcerting acceptance of a position congenial to a Christian understanding, he manages to define the nature of that superiority in a manner fully consistent with the affirmation that Moses is the only possible Torah prophet and even to present it as a reason for the non-Jewish nations to abandon their faiths. Finally, we move to a contemporary development where the criteria for prophecy are invoked in a polemical context, this time that of an intrafaith polemic. Here the purported prophetic status of a messianic figure becomes a central element of the primary evidence that he is the Messiah. The belief of many, almost certainly most, Lubavitch hasidim affirms the messianic identity of the deceased Rebbe. This belief has generated an internal Jewish polemic with echoes of a key element in the historic Jewish–Christian debate. All Jewish believers in a Messianic figure, especially after Maimonides declared that the Messiah will be second only to Moses as a prophet, ascribed prophetic status to their Messiah. However, that status was not a key factor in the evidence that they cited to prove that he was in fact the Messiah. Shabbetai Zevi’s Messiahship was validated by prophecy, but the prophecy was not that of the Messiah himself. Rather, it was an explicit revelation to Nathan of Gaza, whose prophetic credentials were verified through other means, that named Shabbetai Zevi as the redeemer. Lubavitch messianists, on the other hand, have made the Rebbe’s prophetic standing the fundamental component of the proof that he is the Messiah and of the argument that Jewish law requires one to believe this. In their view, he identified himself as a prophet, issued prophecies during the Gulf War that were fulfilled, and affirmed in his capacity as a prophet that he is the Messiah. Since it is a religious obligation (a mitzvah) to accept the words of a prophet, the conclusion that he must be recognized as the Messiah follows inexorably. Full article

From the early Middle Ages to the Modern Period, most documented polemics between Christians and Jews took the form of fierce disputes about the tenets of both religions, with the two sides almost never engaging in dialogue. The emergence of Protestantism brought about a new phenomenon in anti-Judaic debates: a dialogue between Protestants and representatives of the Karaites’ Talmudless version of Judaism. The Protestants’ interest in Karaism stemmed from their perception of the Karaite movement as rejecting the “distortions” of the Oral Torah. They perceived Karaism as similar to Protestantism, which repudiated the “distorted” Catholic tradition in favor of Scripture, the sole legitimate source of authority for both Protestantism and Karaism. The Protestants therefore formed a positive and even idealized image of Karaism and initiated dialogue with Karaite sages. One of the most illustrative examples of such dialogue was the interaction in the late 1790s between Jacobus Trigland, a Protestant Hebraist and professor at Leiden University, and Mordecai ben Nisan, a prominent Eastern European Karaite sage. This study considers the interaction not merely as a dialogue between representatives of two religious movements, but also as an instrument of interreligious and interconfessional polemics expressed by Protestantism and Karaism against both mainstream, Rabbanite Talmudic Judaism and Catholicism. Full article

The biblical commentaries of Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444) represent a major contribution to the development of patristic exegesis. His Commentary on the Gospel of John demonstrates the close interaction between Christological theology, allegorical interpretation, and ecclesial polemic within late antique biblical interpretation. While Cyril’s exegesis has often been praised for its theological sophistication, modern scholarship increasingly recognizes that his interpretive framework also contains a pronounced anti-Judaic dimension. This study examines several key passages from Cyril’s Commentary on the Gospel of John in order to analyse how typology, supersessionist theology, and polemical rhetoric function together in his interpretation. Particular attention is given to Cyril’s portrayal of Jewish ignorance, his attribution of responsibility for the death of Christ, and his typological reinterpretation of Jewish law and history. The analysis demonstrates that Cyril integrates anti-Jewish rhetoric into a broader theological system in which the Mosaic law is presented as a provisional anticipation fulfilled in Christ and realized in the Christian Church. Full article

The cultic violation of the “strange fire” offered to Yahweh by Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1–11 has long puzzled commentators. Similarly perplexing has been the apparently related prohibition of imbibing intoxicating liquids (v. 8) prescribed for all officiating priests following the debacle. This paper considers the episode in the broader context of the use of mind-altering substances in religious practices of the ancient Near East attested to in texts, iconography, and archaeology, and includes specific interaction with the recent discovery of cannabis at the Judahite temple of Arad, as well as potential material paraphernalia from other Late Bronze and Iron Age sites. These archaeological finds provide a backdrop for a discussion of competing incense traditions preserved in the priestly texts and support the proposition that the story may be understood as polemic against the use of mind-altering substances propagated by at least one state-sponsored priestly group, in contrast to common religious practices of those around them and perhaps rival factions within them. Full article

This study examines how early Soviet culture sought to render time perceptible, governable, and politically productive by translating Futurist “chrontology” into socialist “chronization.” Taking Aleksandr Kusikov’s 1922 polemic on the Berlin journal Veshch (Thing)—edited by Ilya Ehrenburg and El Lissitzky—as its point of departure, it reconstructs a “third-way” Futurism shaped by postrevolutionary transit and exile, in which anticipatory futurity was inseparable from an intensified orientation toward materiality, technique, and constructive making. Against the backdrop of modern heterochrony—where “times” proliferate and synchronization remains contested—the essay traces how Soviet actors devised new units, comparisons, and pedagogies for living in a temporally unstable present. Two case studies anchor the argument. First, the League of Time (1923–1925) promoted multiscalar time-management practices through campaigns, memos, and didactic graphics that treated clocks, routines, and efficiency as instruments of socialist subject-formation. Second, illustrated children’s books translated variegated temporal sensibilities into a pedagogy of images, making futurity legible via “thingful” traces that recoded the past as a catalogue of obsolete objects. Chronization thus appears as an ambitious cultural technology for producing a planned, dynamic, and productive socialist way of being. By foregrounding work, visualization, and material comparison, these projects converted temporal uncertainty into actionable, collective everyday socialist practice. Full article

This paper argues that English translations of the Qur’ān play a pivotal role in shaping interfaith dialogue, either fostering mutual understanding or reinforcing religious division, depending on the translator’s ideological stance. While interreligious relations have historically been marred by conflict, the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions marked a turning point toward more inclusive and dialogical engagement. In this context, translating the Qur’ān emerged as a crucial medium through which Islamic teachings could be made accessible to non-Muslim audiences. Several scholars, including Kidwai and Elmarsafy, have explored the Orientalist framing of Qur’ān translation; however, few researchers have examined how modern renderings consciously reposition the text as a site of interfaith ethics. This study critically examines whether George Sale’s influential translation of the Qur’ān—reprinted nearly 200 times—contributes to or hinders interfaith dialogue between Muslims and Christians. It compares Sale’s Qur’ān rendition into English with five contemporary translations. The paper analyzes the translations of five Qur’ānic verses promoting coexistence, with particular attention to key terms such as إِكْرَاهَ ikrah (compulsion), الدِّينِ ad-dīn (religion), تَّقْوَىٰ taqwā (piety), and مُسْلِمُونَ muslimūn (submitters). Guided by Munday’s theory of ideology in translation, the analysis demonstrates that Sale’s rendering adopts a distinctly polemical tone intended to assert Christian superiority. The findings indicate a clear shift from polemical to dialogical translation strategies. Sale’s Orientalist approach—evident in his footnote on Q.4:157, where he characterizes Muslim exegesis as intellectually deficient—ultimately constrains meaningful interfaith engagement. In contrast, Khattab employs an inclusive and ethically grounded approach that actively fosters interreligious dialogue. By positioning Qur’ān translation at the intersection of theology, linguistics, and interfaith relations, this paper demonstrates that translation choices hold significant power: they can either bridge divides or exacerbate tensions between religious communities. Full article

This study was conducted to examine the influence of residents’ perceptions of sustainable tourism policies and destination management (STP&DM) on residents’ empowerment and their support for sustainable tourism development (SUPSTD). Unlike previous studies, this study examines the moderating role of destination attachment (DA) in the relationship between STP&DM and SUPSTD. The empirical findings reveal that STP&DM exert a positive and significant impact on the sub-dimensions of residents’ empowerment, namely psychological (PSYEM), social (SOCEM), and political (POLEM) empowerment. In particular, psychological empowerment and political empowerment were found to enhance residents’ SUPSTD. Moreover, the results confirm that DA functions as a moderator in the relationship between STP&DM and SUPSTD. Based on these outcomes, the study provides both theoretical and practical insights for industry practitioners, destination management organizations (DMOs), and scholars in the field of tourism and sustainability research. Full article

This paper examines how Dushyant Kumar’s collection, sāye meṅ dhūp (lit. Sunlight in the Shadows), reinvented the classical ġhazal genre as a vernacular weapon of anti-authoritarian dissent—not by abandoning ambiguity, but by recalibrating it under conditions of constraint—during India’s Emergency. This study argues that Kumar’s work constitutes a radical departure from the genre’s traditional emphasis on the abstract longing of the lover for the beloved and other tropes which are peculiar to writing ġhazal in the Perso-Urdu world. Instead, Kumar systematically repurposed its conventions—its ambiguity, its metaphors of the beloved and the garden, its themes of sacrifice—to mount a sharp polemic against Indira Gandhi’s regime. Through an analysis of ġhazal-s selected for their range of polemical strategies—from direct satire and political allegory to the recasting of traditional themes like martyrdom—this paper demonstrates how Kumar’s conscious use of a blended Hindi–Urdu vernacular was central to his political project. By writing in “the language I speak,” he dragged the elite ġhazal into the public square, transforming it into a medium for articulating collective disillusionment, resistance, and a scathing critique of a democracy in crisis. Kumar’s work thus stands as a testament to the ġhazal’s potent, and often overlooked, capacity for explicit political engagement. Full article

This article re-examines Gen 28:10–22 through a diachronic analysis informed by its close literary and thematic parallels with Gen 35:9–15. In light of recent developments in Pentateuchal scholarship that question the traditional dating of supposedly pre-Priestly texts, the study adopts a method grounded in detailed textual, linguistic, and literary observation rather than reliance on fixed source-critical models. The analysis argues that Gen 28:10–22 is not a unified narrative but a composite text consisting of an early narrative core overlaid by a post-Priestly addition. Particular attention is given to the ritual acts of pillar erection, anointing with oil, and Jacob’s vow, which exhibit strong affinities with Priestly and Deuteronomistic idioms. A comparison with the Priestly account in Gen 35 suggests that the post-Priestly expansion in Gen 28 responds polemically to a Priestly tendency to neutralize Bethel’s sanctity. The article situates this literary development within the religious landscape of Persian-period Yehud. Full article

In the context of early modern Catholic global missions, the Jesuit strategies for proselytizing Protestant heretics within Europe exhibited operational mechanisms distinct from those employed in overseas non-Christian populations. Focusing on the seventeenth-century Jesuit drama Pietas Victrix, this article examines the process by which drama was forged into an ideological weapon serving the project of constructing legitimacy during the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Research demonstrates that Jesuit drama transcended the purely esthetic sphere of literature and art, becoming a propaganda tool that integrated Tridentine dogma, anti-Protestant polemics, and the sacralizing narratives of the Habsburg dynasty. In the play, the Jesuit Nicolaus von Avancini (1611–1686) converts abstract politico-theological ideas into tangible political loyalty through narrative strategies and the coordinated use of multiple art forms, mobilizing sensory spectacle and the affective force of total work of art within the Habsburg court—the empire’s core political arena—to reconfigure confessional identity, contest ideological leadership, and accumulate crucial social legitimacy for both the Habsburgs and the Society of Jesus. This paper contends that Jesuit drama, exemplified by Pietas Victrix, represents a missionary form rooted in Thomistic theology yet highly politicized. By situating the play within the context of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, it demonstrates how drama was forged into a potent ideological weapon for legitimacy contestation. This study provides a case for interpreting how the Jesuits utilized cultural media to participate in power construction and self-representation, thereby refining our understanding of the mechanisms of cultural politics in early modern Europe. Full article

The life of Jerome of Stridon (d. 419/420), who was regarded as a father of the church and one of the most important authorities in the Middle Ages, has often been depicted as highly controversial: In modern reconstructions, Jerome is typically described as an outsider, constantly involved in controversies and frequently criticized and questioned by his contemporaries. This begs the question of how Jerome could have received such an esteemed reputation during the following centuries. While it has been acknowledged in previous scholarship that Jerome had an extensive reception in the Middle Ages, a comprehensive study of the transmission of his works in the first centuries after his death has not been undertaken. Likewise, the mechanisms involved in constructing an image of Jerome as an authority of exegesis and asceticism and as a defender of orthodoxy are yet to be studied. Combining philological and historical approaches, the present article seeks to contribute to Hieronymian scholarship by studying the reception of Jerome during his lifetime and during the first centuries after his death, taking into account two different but interrelated aspects of this reception: First, an analysis of manuscripts will answer questions concerning the transmission of Jerome’s texts. Secondly, the article will consider the earliest reception of Jerome’s works and how this was managed by Jerome himself, in collaboration with his friends and patrons, in addition to how he was commonly referred to and described during the first decades after his death. The article examines how these aspects of reception contributed to the creation of an image of Jerome, and an interpretation of his work that would become important in medieval Christianity. Full article

This article explores the concept of makhloket (dispute, disagreement) as a foundational principle of rabbinic discourse, contrasting it with Western philosophical and political notions of conflict. Beginning with Mishnah Avot 5:17, which distinguishes between disputes “for the sake of heaven” (exemplified by Hillel and Shammai) and those that are not (exemplified by Korah), the essay argues that makhloket is not simply about contesting authority but about constituting a mode of discourse. To situate this, the article engages Heraclitus’s fragment on polemos as the “father of all things,” and traces its divergent readings in Heidegger and Schmitt, who grounded politics in existential struggle. Drawing on Gregory Fried’s analysis, the essay shows how Heidegger oscillated between interpreting polemos as Kampf (struggle for domination) and Auseinandersetzung (productive confrontation), thereby staging a conflict about conflict itself. The rabbinic model of makhloket is then read as an alternative to these traditions: not a war of logoi for supremacy, nor a negation of conflict in the name of unity, but a discourse generated through disagreement. By juxtaposing Talmudic and philosophical notions of conflict, the essay argues that rabbinic makhloket constitutes a polemical poetics that endures by refusing closure, offering a distinct vision of reason, tradition, and political thought. Full article

In early modern Islamic thought, the concept of zindīq (heretic) occupied a critical space at the intersection of theology, law, and state authority, particularly in the context of Muslim–Christian relations. One of the most significant scholarly attempts to define this term came from Ibn Kemāl (d. 940/1534), a leading Ottoman jurist and theologian, whose treatise Risāla fī mā yataʿallaq bi-lafẓ al-zindīq (Treatise on the Definition of the Word Zindīq) sought to clarify the precise meaning and legal implications of zandaqa (heresy). This article provides the first English translation and critical edition of Ibn Kemāl’s treatise, making this important work accessible to a wider scholarly audience. Through a close reading of the text, this study examines how Ibn Kemāl systematically distinguished zindīq from murtadd (apostate), mulḥid (disbeliever), and munāfiq (hypocrite), shaping Ottoman legal discourse on heresy. The present analysis further explores the theological and jurisprudential foundations Ibn Kemāl employed to define and punish heretics, particularly in light of the controversial execution of Mollā Kābid (or Mullā Qābiḍ, tr. Molla Kābız), who had asserted the superiority of Jesus over Muhammad. This case demonstrates the presence of polemical debates in the shaping of confessional boundaries in the ninth/fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire and reflects the broader challenges of Muslim–Christian interactions during this period. Additionally, this study investigates the broader implications of Ibn Kemāl’s classification of zindīq within the context of Muslim–Christian relations, considering how interfaith polemics and religious boundary-making influenced Ottoman legal thought. By contextualizing this treatise within early modern Ottoman legal and theological traditions, this study contributes to the understanding of how heresy was redefined in a multi-religious empire navigating theological, political, and interreligious challenges. Full article

This article examines the Qurʾānic portrayal of Jesus (ʿĪsā al-Masīḥ) and the naṣārā in comparison with Samaritan and Nazarene/Ebionite profiles, situating them within the Arabicised debatespace of Late Antiquity and early Islam. Building on recent studies of Qurʾānic Christology and interconfessional exchange as well as Macdonald’s work on Samaritan theology and Thomas’s research on Christian–Muslim polemic, the study argues that overlaps in prophetology, law-centred piety, and divine transcendence reflect shared category availability rather than genealogical dependence. Methodologically, the analysis combines close readings of Qurʾānic passages (e.g., Q 4:171; 5:72–75; 4:157) with textual variants from the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP), the Septuagint (LXX), and the Masoretic Text (MT), alongside patristic notices of Jewish–Christian groups. Evidence from Sinai Arabic MS 154, an early Christian apologetic treatise preserved at St Catherine’s Monastery, illustrates how Arabic-speaking Christians engaged Qurʾānic categories in staged dialogue. The findings clarify where conceptual overlaps (titles, law, divine unity) coexisted with decisive non-overlaps (worship, sonship, atonement), showing that the Qurʾān’s Christology participated in a common discursive field while maintaining distinct theological boundaries. On this basis, the article proposes a historically grounded “Bridge-First” model for Muslim–Christian dialogue, beginning with Qurʾān-affirmed titles for Jesus and advancing toward contested claims in sequence. Full article

This study analyzes confessionally conditioned self-image and mutual perception of the Catholic and Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Upper Hungary in the context of the second confessionalization process. Based on comparative research of the contemporary press, including either the printed or handwritten homiletic and catechetical literature, predominantly from the area of Upper Hungary, the study examines which phenomena and processes taking place since the 1830s until the end of the 1850s signaled a renewal in confessional identities in both the Catholic and Evangelical Churches. A particular emphasis has been placed on indicators of the second confessionalization, such as the debate on mixed marriages, a rising number of conversions, or legislative interventions in the freedom of religion. Through discourse analysis, the study explores how the image and self-image of the Catholic and Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession evolved as a result of the expansion of the catechetical literature and apologetic works and identifies the narrative strategies employed in their respective confessional discourses. The Catholic discourse stressed maintaining dogmatic integrity and Church authority in particular, whereas the Evangelicals more frequently accentuated a thorough biblicality and rationality as a counterposition to Catholic piety. Both traditions claimed exclusive access to “true religion” and used apologetic genres to defend and enhance their identity. Polemical texts also served as tools to form confessionally conditioned collective consciousness, as well as a part of contemporary cultural and political debates. Full article