No comments about The Spirit Of The Zoroastrian Religion.

No comments about The Gathas: The Primitive Zoroastrian Faith.

1 comments about Zoroastrian Theology: From The Earliest Times To The Present Day.

1. The book although written nicely, lacks the critical research and only treats the ancient Zoroastrian literature through ages, beside it is purely written for the Parsi audience. This book was later enlarged by the author into his another edition, 'History of Zoroastrianism' This book of Dhalla is the first attempt to systematically treat the history of the faith from the view point of its scriptures. It is now more improved by Prof Mary Boyce in her three Volumes of 'The History of Zoroastrianism'

1 comments about The Zoroastrian Tradition: An Introduction to the Ancient Wisdom of Zarathushtra.

1. An only child is burdened with an unfair amount of attention and expectation, and so it is with Farhang Mehr's ZOROASTRIAN TRADITION which is the only introduction in print, in English, by a native Zoroastrian, to contemporary Zoroastrian belief. Even without alternative perspectives Prof. Mehr's book is outstanding. It takes a moderate position between reactionary and revolutionary interpretations of Zoroastrianism at the same time as it presents its own vision of an ethical and mystical religion which is not only alive and well but growing in numbers and influence.
   
   In a review of a previous edition of this book Zoroastrian scholar Pallan Ichaporia found Professor Mehr's English to be poor. I've read the book cover to cover three times and I found Mehr's command of English to be perfectly fine. Dr. Ichaporia also implies that Professor Mehr should stick to politics and leave religion to the scholars. All well and good except to date no scholar, Ichaporia included, has attempted a book of this scope, for the most part preferring to pick at each other's translations of Zarathustra's sacred songs (the Gathas) instead of sharing them with a general readership.
   
   Prof. Mehr's life and career have been well-documented in TRIUMPH OVER DISCRIMINATION. His religion is hard-earned in the front lines and trenches of policy and diplomacy. I trust Mehr to know whence he speaks and I heartily recommend this book to those who wish to know what Zarathustra's vision looks like in real life rather than in academic monographs.

No comments about The Persian 'Mar Nameh': The Zoroastrian 'Book of the Snake' Omens and Calendar & The Old Persian Calendar.

3 comments about Essays on Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism (Bibliotheca Iranica. Zoroastrian Studies Series, No. 1).

1. In the introduction, Prods Skjaervo says that he translated these essays to help his students at Harvard. So if you are attending Harvard and planning on studying Mazdaism this is a great book to read. It is filled with many of the brilliant insights of Jean Kellens and is a great read for serious students of religion. However, if you are not that familiar with Mazdaism I suggest you start with another work probably Nigosian. This book also talks considerable about the textual analysis of the Avesta from a linguistical perspective which makes it difficult to follow if you don't have some knowledge of linguistics.



2. Dr. Prods Oktor Skjaervo deserves our deep thanks for taking the time to translate into English (and to elucidate further) four lectures on "Zarathustra and the Old Avesta" delivered at the College de France by a grand master on the lore of Avestan language and Zarathushtrianism, Dr. Jean Kellens. For me the greatest delight was to read pages 120-131, which highlights year by year, the magnificant output of Dr. Jean Kellens, displaying his depth and range of his "Avestic" erudition.
   
   Though the book is intened for an advanced audience, the general outline and arguments can be followed even by a novice with appropriate reference guides. A novice may use this book as a model for scholarly publication in the difficult field of the Avestan language. I strongly recommend this book for review to every Parsee, Zarathushtrian and readers and admirers of Avestan lore.



3. Prof. Jean Kellens (who as pointed before, is certainly a man!) is a leading scholar of Zoroastrian/Mazdaian studies. However, he clearly belongs to one end of the scholary spectrum on the matters of Zoroastrian studies and has his own well-known opinions. He certainly believes that Zarathushtra did not exist, and he has other specific beliefs which need more space to discuss than a review.
   
   The translator, probably the most well-known and respected English language scholar of Old Iranian studies, is also the major representative of the "Kellens" school in North America. The book in a way is a statement, one establishing the presence of the Kellens system in North America, where it usually is not taken seriously.
   
   The essays are certainly very learned and have impeccable scholary weight, but their conclusions and statements should be taken with warning. The non-specialist reader should always notice that the opinions expressed are only one side of the coin.
   
   Also, Prof. Skjaervo "goes" with his middle name, Oktor.

1 comments about Zoroastrian Rituals in Context (Studies in the History of Religions, V. 102.).

1. Zarathushtrians the world over are once more provided with a massive volume, this time edited by Dr. Michael Stausberg, his other two voluminous publications being, "Faszination Zarathushtra" (Walter de Gruyter, 1998) and "Die Religion Zarathushtras" (W. Kohlhammer, 2002). This book is the outcome of a proceedings of the international symposium "Zoroastrian Rituals in Context" held at the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg, from April 10-13, 2002. The book is a collection of papers by a majority of the greatest scholars in the field of Zarathushtrian studies, and in particular Zarathushtrian rituals and liturgical ceremonies. From setting the definitions of rituals and initiations in religious, geographical, historical and social contexts, nearly every minor and major Zarathushtrian ritual and liturgical ceremony is discussed and debated at some length. Thus this book serves to provide a valuable reference source for Zarathushtrian rituals, both for the novice and advanced students of Zarathushtrianism and I recommend this book most heartily to every Parsi and Zarathushtrian for a careful study of these papers. As usual the publishing house of Brill has to be thanked profusely for publishing for us in excellent style and format a valuable book on Zarathushtrianism in one of it's excellent monographic series.

2 comments about Zoroastrian Studies: The Iranian Religion and Various Monographs.

1. This is an excellent book. It has pulled together all the available literature on this very old religion and helped to make it understandable in modern times. One can see by reading this book where cross pollination between Judaism and Gnosticism exists...and to some extent, the Vedas from Hinduism. Very thoroughly researched.



2. This is a great book for someone researching the Zoroastrian faith and religion. It is not the most up to date work, but it contains far more in depth information than more modern works which have skipped some of the finer details.
   I wouldn't recommend this for the beginner - they would be better served by such works as "Persian myths" by Curtis, "Persian Mythology" by Hinnells, or "Wise Lord of the sky" by Allan.
   But for someone wishing to research the religion, this and R.C. Zaehner's books are truly excellent.

3 comments about Zoroastrian Tradition: An Introduction to the Ancient Wisdom of Zarathustra.

1. Offering deep insights into the fundamental teachings of one of the most important persons in the history of humankind, this glowing book creatively transcends the usual audience to serve the greater interests of everyone on our planet. Moreover, aside from the ancient scriptures themselves, perhaps no other single work is as important as this one to today's Zoroastrians and Zoroastrian scholars. Quite unlike any other treatise on the subject, Professor Mehr breathes life into the layers of wisdom brought to us from a distant past, peeling away the mists until the reader sees these revelations radiate with the brilliance that ultimately caused civilization itself to burst forth from humankind. Anyone who has the slightest interest as to why we are here and what we are supposed to do will want to read this fascinating and important work.



2. While selecting a Text Book for teaching the Undergraduate Comparative Religion Class, I happened to read this book. I found it extreemely mediocre and unworthy as a text book. It is more like a preaching sermon and than a text book, being compounded by poor English as also least scholarly. The author is the political figure in Pre-revolution Iran and an expert in politics rather than in religion



3. An only child is burdened with an unfair amount of attention and expectation, and so it is with Farhang Mehr's ZOROASTRIAN TRADITION which is the only introduction in print, in English, by a native Zoroastrian, to contemporary Zoroastrian belief. Even without alternative perspectives Prof. Mehr's book is outstanding. It takes a moderate position between reactionary and revolutionary interpretations of Zoroastrianism at the same time as it presents its own vision of an ethical and mystical religion which is not only alive and well but growing in numbers and influence.
   
   Dr. Ichaporia found Professor Mehr's English to be poor. I've read the book cover to cover three times and I found Mehr's command of English to be perfectly fine. Dr. Ichaporia also implies that Professor Mehr should stick to politics and leave religion to the scholars. All well and good except to date no scholar, Ichaporia included, has attempted a book of this scope, for the most part preferring to pick at each other's translations of Zarathustra's sacred songs (the Gathas) instead of sharing them with a general readership.
   
   Prof. Mehr's life and career have been well-documented in TRIUMPH OVER DISCRIMINATION. His religion is hard-earned in the front lines and trenches of policy and diplomacy. I trust Mehr to know whence he speaks and I heartily recommend this book to those who wish to know what Zarathustra's vision looks like in real life rather than in academic monographs.

4 comments about Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early ... (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam).

1. Hoyland provides an invaluable resource for student of early islam. Cataloguing and summarising all the early non-Muslim sources referring to Islam, he has created a text that not only lists hard-to-find references, but lucidly summarises them as well.



2. When Patricia Crone wrote her outstanding book ( and sad enough it is out of print at present): "Hagarism", she was able to challenge the Islamic tradition's monopoly on our understanding of Islam and its early history. She followed the path set by John Wansbrough who convinced us that the whole Islamic tradition ( the sira, the Hadith, the Maghazi etc..) was late and tendentious; it was nothing but salvation history and much of it is pious fiction; that Islam is a complex phenomenon; and that religions do not spring out of the heads of prophets just like that.

   Crone did the unthinkable, she used the tetimony of, as the late Suliman Bashear called them: The others!, the Syriac sources, the Coptic sources etc...that have been long neglected by historians who felt more at ease by believing the Islamic tradition's view of its own history. Everyone rushed to check her references, including reading the writings available by "infidels", AKA non-Muslims that witnessed the invasion by al-Muhajirun, later to be known as, yes you guessed it: Arabs/Mulims, of their homelands in the Middle East. Some of these references are very hard to find. This book provides us with access to these writings, and this is indeed a great task. As much as Patricia Crone follows a long and distinguished line of scholars of Islam that radically changed our understanding of Islam and its history, and this list includes: Ignaz Goldziher, Joseph Schacht, Henri Lammens, the great John Wansbrough, Micheal Cook, Yehuda Nevo..I'm sure I missed a few names. One should not be naive enough, as John Wansbrough have noted in his review of her book, and blindely believe the sources of the "others", because they can be just as tainted as Muslim sources. Therefore, these sources can help us in understanding "what really happened" only to a certain degree.

   The reader will be surprised that : 1. Those invaders called themselves: Al-Muhajirun, and not Arabs or Muslims for this matter, and continued to be called so until the first quarter of the 8th. century. 2. The name of Muhhamad does not appear until 72 A.H. 3. The Quran does not appear until appear until the turn of the 8th. century, and only as logia and pericopes, and not the whole text. Which makes one wonder that the whole story about the 'Uthmanic recension of the Quran is nothing but late pious fraud. 4. The "infidels" seemed to be aware that a significant event took place in 622 C.E, but no one seemed to be aware of what it was, and not even the early Muslim sources themselves. But wait a minute...do not assume that it is the year of Muhammad's so called hijra. So what is it? Well, read this book. This is the great fun about reading this book. It will shatter some of your believes.

   If you like this book, I would urge you to read the late Suliman Bashear's book: " Introduction to the other history."




3. The book is quick on conclusions. It avoids any analysis of archeological finds that do not accord with such conclusions. The fact of the matter is that much evidence support the 'traditional' story of Islam, in particular in the Fertile Crescent where archeological finds have not contradicted the 'traditional' story.

   The fact that no such digs where ever conducted in the birthplace of the entire movement is regrettable. Incidently, Mecca should prove a veritabley exciting site, given the fact that it had been on a trade route for probably hundred of years before Mohammed's time.

   The search for answers to these questions, without theological or (much worse) political motives seems hard to expect in the present time. As usual, "Truth is the first victim" of the current tragic events.




4. Two of the reviews posted here suggest that the we might title them "Seeing 'Seeing Islam. . .' as Others Saw it." The New York reader's propoganda for Hagarism and other far-fetched perspectives is explicitly taken on and refuted in Hoyland's Chapter 13. Chapter 14 begins, saying "... it is a strong argument in favor of [Muslim witnesses] that they do frequently coincide with what is said by [non-Muslim witnesses]."
   This book is mostly a sober, almost 19th-century style translated collection of all the sources refering to Muslims and Islam in the first (roughly) two centuries of Islam. These sources are organized (a bit frustratingly for this reader) by the language of their origin (rather than chronologically). Execurses collect early Muslim sources, and various chapters meticulously discuss the sources, how they can be used, and other methodological issues. The author then carefully, soberly, and very persuasively draws conclusions about the original Muslim self-identity, the cultus, the nature of the early community's religiosity (or religiosities) etc. It is a tour de force work, invaluable for those interested in Early Islam and it puts paid to speculative, thinly evidenced, and frankly hostile works like that of Nevo and Koren. It's a pity that it is so difficult to find, however.