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An indispensable text in the history of medieval Jewish-Christian relations, this work documents one of the first allegations of Jewish ritual murder. This 1896 edition includes an English translation and extensive introductory material by Augustus Jessop and M. R. James.

Specialising in optics and the motion of fluids, physicist George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903) was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge for over fifty years, President of the Royal Society, Master of Pembroke College and the most prominent religious scientist of his age. First published in 1893, Natural Theology contains the text of ten lectures he gave at Edinburgh. Stokes favoured the design argument for the existence of a Christian god, arguing against Darwinism. He believed the Bible to be true, though at times metaphorical. The lectures move from substantive observations on cosmology, electricity, gravity, ocular anatomy and evolution through to non sequiturs regarding providential design, human exceptionalism, the supernatural, spiritual immortality, and Christ's dual materiality and divinity. Fossilising a moment of impending shift in the history of ideas, these lectures highlight an intellectual dissonance in the Victorian scientific establishment.

One of the leading Christian theologians of the nineteenth century, John Henry Newman (1801-90) was already a famous and controversial figure, as the leader of the Oxford Movement, by the time he published these lectures in 1838. He was still a Church of England vicar, but in 1845 he would join the Roman Catholic Church and eventually become a cardinal. The thirteen lectures here, addressing the doctrine of salvation through faith, cover issues of obedience, righteousness, Christ's resurrection, faith as the sole source of justification, the role of rites and works, and that of preaching. Offering a complementary rather than dichotomous interpretation of the competing theological positions, this work reveals the progress of Newman's thinking and reflects his journey towards leaving the Church of England.

Published in English in 1884, this is the posthumous third edition of an 1862 study by the German orientalist Martin Haug (1827-76). He produced this groundbreaking analysis and comparison of Sanskrit and the Avesta while professor of Sanskrit at the Government College of Poona. His time in India enabled him to make an unprecedented study of Zoroastrian texts, becoming the first to translate the seventeen Gathas into a European language, thereby helping to highlight that they were composed by Zoroaster. Edward William West (1824-1905), an engineer and self-taught orientalist, met Haug in India. Having read this work's first edition, he was inspired to study further the Pahlavi language. On his and Haug's return to Europe in 1866, they worked closely together in translating and publishing Zoroastrian texts. West's edition of Haug's Essays includes several updates, unpublished papers from Haug's collection, appendices of further translations, and a biography of the author.

Published in 1861, this work in the third person, dictated by Joseph Wolff (1795-1862) to friends, is an epic miscellany of stories. Wolff, the son of a rabbi, had a peripatetic Middle European childhood. He converted to Christianity in 1812, studying Near Eastern languages in Vienna and Tubingen, and theology in Rome - until he was expelled by the Inquisition for heretical views. He eventually moved to England, working for the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. Beginning his mission in the Middle East, he later travelled to Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, and the United States, where he preached to Congress. His eventful career saw him variously shipwrecked, enslaved, and forced to walk without clothes for 600 miles following a robbery. In 1847 he settled more quietly in a Somerset vicarage. Though characteristically orientalist (and with possible embellishments), this work remains an invigorating depiction of a lifetime's adventure.

Henry Aaron Stern (1820-85), of German Jewish birth, moved to London in 1839, converted to Christianity and became a lifelong missionary for the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. With his wife he preached in Palestine, Babylon, Constantinople, Baghdad, Persia, and to the Karaite Jews of the Crimea. Famously, in 1863, he was caught in a diplomatic dispute in Ethiopia that led to his imprisonment and eventual rescue, five years later, by a British military force. Stern was made a doctor of divinity in 1881. He wrote three memoirs, which were drawn on by Albert Augustus Isaacs (1826-1903), a vicar at Leicester who knew Stern personally. Isaacs's biography, first published in 1886, is hagiographic and written with religiosity. Nonetheless, it includes informative accounts of missionary work among Jewish communities, and remains a valuable source on the orientalism of Victorian Britain.

Educated in Prague, Vienna and Leipzig, Moritz Steinschneider (1816-1907) was a Jewish Bohemian orientalist with a deep understanding of classical and Semitic languages and cultures, specialising in bibliography. He edited twenty-one volumes of the journal Hebraische Bibliographie from 1859 to 1882, and his 1878 catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts held in the Hamburg State Library is also reissued in this series. First published in 1877, this book is an elaborate record of Arabic polemic and apologetic literature among Muslims, Christians and Jews. The product of several decades of work, it offers detailed historical and bibliographic information on each item, alphabetical lists of titles and authors, an appendix of background information, and a useful index. Steinschneider's painstaking work remains of value to scholars of the Abrahamic religions and the history of interfaith relations.

The diplomat and Japanese and Korean scholar William George Aston (1841-1911) wrote several highly regarded publications, particularly on the Japanese language. Condensed from his more comprehensive 1905 study of the subject, this 1907 work is a brief introduction to Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan. Based on the worship of nature and ancestor spirits, Shinto has evolved throughout its history, particularly under Buddhist and Confucian influence. In the late nineteenth century it played a notable role in the revival of Japanese nationalism, and continued to be central to public life until 1945. This work focuses on describing Shinto's general character, and its myths and practices, drawing on early written sources based on the oral tradition. Aston's work has been criticised for its dependence on philological study of the early texts, but his expertise is undeniable. His groundbreaking History of Japanese Literature (1899) is also reissued in this series.

Comprising seven essays by learned contributors and controversially advocating a rationalist Christianity, this work became a sensation upon publication in 1860. Frederick Temple (1821-1902), later Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote on the cultural contributions of non-Christians; Roland Williams (1817-70), Professor of Hebrew at Lampeter, questioned Old Testament prophesies; Baden Powell (1796-1850), Oxford Professor of Geometry, challenged belief in miracles and embraced Darwinism; Henry Bristow Wilson (1803-88) questioned literal biblical history; the only lay contributor, Egyptologist Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817-78), embraced geology; Mark Pattison (1813-84), tutor at Lincoln College, wrote on the history of rationalist theology; and Benjamin Jowett (1817-93), Oxford Professor of Greek, advocated a historical reading of the Bible. Wilson and Williams were later found guilty of heresy by a Church court, though this was overturned on appeal. For readers interested in the theological controversies of the Victorian era, these essays remain invaluable.

The British colonial administrator and scholar Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938) travelled extensively in the Far East, developing a deep interest in Chinese culture and spirituality. His fourteen-year posting to the relatively quiet port of Weihaiwei allowed him to indulge this interest and to travel to places not usually visited by Europeans. Well acquainted with the philosophy of Confucius, Johnston had happily quoted the Confucian classics in his court judgments at Weihaiwei. In 1918, he was appointed tutor to the young Puyi (1906-67), who had been China's last emperor before his forced abdication. This 1934 publication, developed from lectures, presents an accessible interpretation of the tenets and fortunes of Confucianism, notably the impact of the New Culture Movement on the philosophy's place in Chinese society. Among other works, Johnston's Buddhist China (1913) and Twilight in the Forbidden City (1934) are also reissued in this series.

The British colonial administrator and scholar Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938) travelled extensively in the Far East, developing a keen intellectual interest in Chinese culture and spirituality. His fourteen-year posting to the relatively quiet port of Weihaiwei allowed him to indulge this interest and to travel to places not usually visited by Europeans. In 1918, he was appointed tutor to the young Puyi (1906-67), who had been China's last emperor before his forced abdication. Deeply interested in Mahayana Buddhism, Johnston played an important role in raising Western awareness of its philosophy and practice in China. This work, first published in 1913, provides valuable insight into the history of this branch of Buddhism as well as fascinating accounts of notable centres of Chinese monasticism. Among other works, Johnston's Confucianism and Modern China (1934) and Twilight in the Forbidden City (1934) are also reissued in this series.

The Reverend John Furniss Ogle (1823-65) was an academic, a Church of England clergyman and a committed missionary. Born into a wealthy religious family and educated at Cambridge, he worked as a tutor and minister before undertaking missions in the Falkland Islands, Europe and Africa. First published in 1873, this collection of Ogle's letters was compiled shortly after his death at sea during a mission to Algeria. Interspersed with detailed commentary by the book's editor, the Reverend James Aitken Wylie (1808-90), the letters trace Ogle's early childhood, his studies at Cambridge, his embarking on a religious life, and his determined missionary enterprises. They offer a revealing insight into life in nineteenth-century Europe and Africa, and portray Ogle as humble man, dedicated to his pursuits and to the welfare of others.

George Fox (1624-91), founder of The Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers), was well known during his lifetime as a healer and worker of miracles. He wrote prolifically of how he used God's power to effect over one hundred and fifty cures, of both physical disease or injury and mental or psychological problems. This work was critical to spreading the word about Quakerism in its early years. Many of Fox's papers were lost after his death, but from the clues and fragments that remained, and a contemporary index of his works, Henry Cadbury (1883-1974) was able to create this book, published in 1948. The preface make clear that this was not intended as a work of critical analysis, though the findings are annotated with historical and documentary detail. The editor's devotion to his task is testament to the historical and spiritual significance of Fox's contribution to Quakerism.

John Venn (1834-1923), a leading British logician, moral scientist and historian of Cambridge, came from a noted family of clerics, although he resigned from the clergy as his philosophical studies led him away from Anglican orthodoxy. This family memoir, published in 1904, covers the careers of three centuries of Venn clergy, together with an outline of the family origins and pedigrees. The family came from Devon, where William Venn was ordained in 1595, and two of his sons followed him. Richard Venn was displaced and jailed during the Commonwealth. The author's father, John, was the founder of an evangelical sect at Clapham (where his father Henry had also been curate), and of the Church Missionary Society, an organisation in which the author's brother, Henry, played a leading role. The study provides a microcosmic history of the Anglican Church from the Reformation to the end of the nineteenth century.

Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-74) was a pioneering textual scholar of the New Testament, who discovered and transcribed early manuscripts, notably the Codex Sinaiticus, his acquisition of which provoked long-lasting controversies. The original German edition of this book appeared in 1865, and sold 2,000 copies in three weeks; this English translation (1868) was based on the improved and expanded fourth German edition (1866). In it, Tischendorf applies his enormous knowledge of early Christian literature and the oldest Latin, Greek and Syriac gospel manuscripts to the question of the date of the canonical gospel texts, which, he argues, had been established by the end of the first century. Parts of the book are highly polemical, with Tischendorf referring to 'the Tubingen fantasy-builder and the Parisian caricaturist' in his attempt to refute contemporary theories about the person of Jesus. Nevertheless his translator engagingly describes him as a 'great and genial' scholar.

The physicist Sir Oliver Lodge (1851-1940) made significant contributions to the study of electrons, electromagnetic waves, X-rays, radio and telegraphy, earning him the Rumford Medal, the Faraday Medal and, in 1902, a knighthood. In addition to serving as President of the Physical Society, Lodge succeeded F. W. H. Myers as President of the Society for Psychical Research, an organisation devoted to the study of paranormal phenomena. In this work, first published in 1908, Lodge discusses the controversy between science and faith, showing how the self-sufficient laws of 'orthodox science' may be reconciled with the divinely ordered universe of 'orthodox religion'. Immensely popular from the moment of its publication, the book reached its twenty-first printing in 1928. This sixth edition of 1909 conveys the full scope of Lodge's ambitious project, including his treatments of evolutionary science, church reform and the immortality of the soul.

A masterpiece of rhetoric and an impassioned defence of faith in the face of persecution, this work represents a key work in the Latin patristic canon. Addressing the magistrates of the Roman court, Tertullian submits 'the real facts in the case of the Christians', defending the legitimacy of the new faith while charging its detractors with hypocrisy and worse. Scathing, eloquent and defiant, the Apology demonstrates the importance of classical rhetoric to the identity of the controversial religion and its recent converts. This edition (1917), accompanied by a complete commentary by J. E. B. Mayor and translation by Alexander Souter, has been called 'by the far the best commentary ever published' on the work. Published posthumously from Mayor's extensive Cambridge lecture notes, the commentary is a starting point for anyone seeking a full understanding of the text's critical history. Souter's English translation makes it accessible to experts and non-experts alike.

Much of the work of James Rendel Harris (1852-1941), palaeographer and biblical scholar, focused on the translation and understanding of early Christian writing, and this collection of two volumes of essays examines two key texts. The first work in this reissue, published in 1896, discusses the book known as 'The Shepherd of Hermas'. This early work, thought to be written in Rome around the first or second century CE, is composed of three parts: visions, commandments and similitudes. Harris examines aspects of the work, such as how to interpret the ninth similitude - as allegory or literally - and discusses in detail questions about translation. Themes of other essays include the legendary library of Prester John in Abyssinia, the third-century writer Gaius the Presbyter and problems surrounding the fourth-century Codex Euthalianus. The second work, published in 1889, is concerned with the apocalyptic language in the book of Baruch.

In this two-volume work, J. Rendel Harris (1852-1941) fundamentally shaped Biblical scholarship in the twentieth century, arguing for the existence of a 'first known treatise on Christian theology', antedating the New Testament. A palaeographer, Harris examined recurring textual corruptions of Old Testament passages in early Christian writers and surmised an underlying collection, which he called the 'Testimony Book'. The book, Harris believed, collected Biblical testimonia - passages prophesying Christ - in order to prove the legitimacy of the new Christian faith. These arguments against Judaic theology marked, in Harris's opinion, the beginnings of the Christian written tradition. Volume 2 (1920) seeks to demonstrate how the New Testament relied upon the 'Testimony Book', by examining Galatians, Hebrews and other letters and gospels. 'The starting point of the modern study of the use of the Old Testament in the New', this is a work of enduring importance to religion scholars.

A. Lukyn Williams (1853-1943) presents here a wide range of examples of Christian apologetic writings about Judaism. Taking material from the earliest years of the Christian Church until the Renaissance, the book investigates sources with Syriac, Greek, Spanish, and Latin origins. It includes observations on lost or possible books such as the first 'Book of Testimonies' posited by J. Rendel Harris (with whom Williams did not fully agree) which pre-dated the Biblical Gospels; incomplete early treatises; and scriptural extracts. Concerned more with historical detail than with exegesis, Williams' study provides extensive scholarly commentaries on all the texts included and covers possible dates of origin, sources, intended audience, and biographical information about the authors. First published in 1935 with the aim of offering source material in an area often neglected by scholars, the book remains a useful resource for students and scholars of Christian-Jewish relations.

The Revd Samuel Marsden (1765-1838) was an influential religious figure in Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. Educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and having spent time in Australia as a missionary to convicts and aborigines, from 1814 until his death he worked as a missionary to the Maori in New Zealand. First published in 1858, this biography, which uses Marsden's own letters and memoirs by friends and colleagues to explore his life and work, was edited by the historian J. B. Marsden (1803-70) who was not in fact related to his subject. Vivid and anecdotal, the work reveals Marsden's strong religious beliefs and his dedication to the welfare of the war-torn native peoples, even though his activities were not always popular. The editorial commentary sets Marsden's work within a social and historical context, and the study concludes with some appendixes documenting his lasting influence on New Zealand and Tahiti.

Scottish minister and social reformer Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) is famous as the leader of the group of 470 ministers who left the Church of Scotland in 1843 to found the Free Church of Scotland, and as the author (in 1834) of the first Bridgewater Treatise (also reissued in this collection). Along with his theological interests, Chalmers was deeply concerned with educational reform in schools and universities. In 1827 he published this paper on university endowments, asserting that it was the state's responsibility to support religious and educational institutions, because churches, schools, and universities maintained the nation's Christian principles and character. Chalmers argued that only endowed national establishments were capable of ensuring the religious and moral well-being of the individual. In addition to his appeal for university endowments, he also advocated (unusually for his time) the extension of full civil rights to dissenters and Catholics.

In 1829 the Church Missionary Society began operations in the African kingdom of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). The Anglican clergyman Charles Isenberg (1806-64) joined the mission there in 1835, followed by Johann Ludwig Krapf (1810-81) in 1837. Soon afterwards, opposition to the Society's presence in Abyssinia caused them to leave. However, they were determined to establish a base in the central Ethiopian kingdom of Shoa (Shewa), and did so in 1839, entering from the Yemeni port of Mocha. Isenberg stayed in the capital, Ankobar, from 7 June until 6 November 1839, while Krapf remained until 1842 and travelled to other, lesser-known parts of the country. This work, published in 1843, is an account of their period of missionary activity, told through their journals. It begins with a geographical account of the region by the leading specialist of the time, James MacQueen (1778-1870), widely considered one of his most important works.

This book first appeared in 1849, during the renaissance of English Catholicism that followed the 1829 Relief Act. It contains three anonymous translations of early modern biographies. The first, published in Latin in Cologne in 1617 by Sebastiano Berettari (1543-1622), and translated here from an Italian manuscript version of 1670, focuses on the Jesuit missionary to Brazil Joseph Anchieta (1534-97), praising his 'talent and diligence in human affairs' and his 'heroic virtues'. The second, based on Caspar Peter Lull's account published in both Latin and German in 1682, briefly describes the life of the nun Alvera of Virmundt (1617-49) as a model of female piety full of 'virtue and perfection'. The third is devoted to the Belgian Jesuit John Berchmans (1599-1621), remembered as a 'holy young man', and is translated from an 1826 Paris edition of a text published in 1706 by Nicholas Frizon (d. 1737).

Edward Bean Underhill (1813-1901), the energetic and much-travelled secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, was active throughout his life in publishing and researching Baptist history. This 1881 biography of his recently-deceased friend James Phillippo (1798-1879) is based on diaries, a manuscript autobiography and papers made available to Underhill by Phillippo's family. Phillippo devoted over fifty years to Baptist missionary work in Jamaica and was a fierce advocate for the abolition of slavery. He landed in Jamaica in 1823, and developed a strong following, despite being banned from preaching to slaves on several occasions. In the 1830s he helped to establish free villages where newly emancipated (and now homeless) slaves could settle. Underhill's thorough account of Phillippo's eventful life focuses specially on the missionary's hard-won victories over his wealthy and powerful opponents. The book includes a list of the many schools and churches established by Phillippo in Jamaica.

This three-volume account of the life of John Wesley (1703-91) was published in the year of his death. Written by John Hampson (c.1753-1819), a Church of England clergyman and former Methodist preacher, the work also contains a thorough review of Wesley's writings and a history of Methodism. Hampson's excellent overview of contemporary assessments of the preacher is more balanced than John Whitehead's two-volume Life of the Rev. John Wesley (1793-6), which has also been reissued in this series. Volume 3 gives an account of Wesley's death, but is predominantly concerned with a critique of Methodist theology, activity and mode of preaching. It gives a measured assessment of Wesley's character and reflects on the opposition to the work's previous volumes displayed by Wesley's executors, highlighting the struggle over his legacy - a matter of great importance in the history of Methodism.

This three-volume account of the life of John Wesley (1703-91) was published in the year of his death. Written by John Hampson (c.1753-1819), a Church of England clergyman and former Methodist preacher, the work also contains a thorough review of Wesley's writings and a history of Methodism. Hampson's excellent overview of contemporary assessments of the preacher is more balanced than John Whitehead's two-volume Life of the Rev. John Wesley (1793-6), which has also been reissued in this series. Volume 2 traces the growth of Methodism in both England and North America, covering Wesley's itinerant preaching, the death of his mother, and theological differences with his brother Charles. It also gives an account of Wesley's increased activity in ordaining priests for travel to America. Drawing on a wide range of sources, the work remains important for its informed appraisal of this religious movement and its founder.

This three-volume account of the life of John Wesley (1703-91) was published in the year of his death. Written by John Hampson (c.1753-1819), a Church of England clergyman and former Methodist preacher, the work also contains a thorough review of Wesley's writings and a history of Methodism. Hampson's excellent overview of contemporary assessments of the preacher is more balanced than John Whitehead's two-volume Life of the Rev. John Wesley (1793-6), which has also been reissued in this series. Volume 1 explores Wesley's lineage and early life, including his journey to America in 1735 and his conversion in 1738. This volume also contains short chapters on his brothers Samuel and Charles. Drawing on a wide range of sources, the work remains important for its informed appraisal of this religious movement and its founder.

Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918) first published this work in German in 1878. Reissued here is the 1885 English translation of a revised 1883 version. Intended as a multi-volume work, this first book now stands as a self-contained work. A biblical scholar and orientalist, Wellhausen was professor of theology at Greifswald (until resigning for reasons of conscience) and then professor at Halle, Marburg and Gottingen. An early exponent of scientific philology, he placed the Pentateuch in a historical-social context, setting aside theological traditions. In this work, he sets out his method and argues that the Pentateuch is a synthesis of four independent narratives. He then examines the history of worship, sacrifice, sacred feasts, priests, and the law in ancient Israel. Wellhausen is a central figure in modern biblical studies, his theory dominated scholarship for a century, and his pioneering work remains of great interest in the field.

This catalogue, prepared in two parts between 1876 and 1878 and reissued here in one volume, analyses ninety-eight Hebrew manuscripts held at Cambridge University Library. Wonderfully discursive, lively and opinionated, it is the crowning achievement of Solomon Marcus Schiller-Szinessy (1820-90), the first Jewish scholar appointed by Cambridge to teach Talmudic and Rabbinic literature. Assessing not only the contents of the manuscripts, the work also examines their ownership, scribal marks and marginalia, authorship and textual traditions. The first part analyses seventy-two biblical scrolls, codices and commentaries, including thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Sefardi Bibles and outstanding editions of commentaries by Abraham ibn Ezra and Rashi, along with lesser-known but significant commentators. The second part, which was never formally published, examines a further twenty-six rabbinic manuscripts, including the famous Cambridge Mishnah - one of only three complete Mishnaic manuscripts.