This book contains a lengthy introduction, translation and commentary on John Selden's Uxor HebraicaUxor Hebraica. Selden was a seventeenth century Christian talmudist, classicist, legal historian and member of the British parliament who wrote extensively on a wide variety of subjects including seven books, all in Latin, of various aspects of Jewish Law. Uxor HebraicaUxor Hebraica is an exhaustive treatment of Jewish marriage law. Among the subjects treated are incest (including a unique discussion of the Karaite rules), levirate, the marriage contract and ceremonies and divorce. Selden extensively used the Hebrew Bible, its ancient and later translations, the Talmud, and especially Maimonides' Mishneh TorahMishneh Torah. He widened his discussion by including comparative material from the New Testament, church fathers, Greece and Rome, Islam, plus usages from Ethiopia, Russia, Byzantium and medieval Europe. Although written without polemic, the work is clearly related to the religious controversies of the day.
John Selden was an English jurist, scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath showing true intellectual depth and breadth; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned men reputed in this land."
He joined in the protestation of the Commons for the maintenance of the Protestant religion according to the doctrines of the Church of England, the authority of the crown, and the liberty of the subject.
Selden arrived at an Erastian position in church politics. He also believed in free will, which was inconsistent with Calvinism.
... Show more