This text ... gathers together a ... selection of representative, authoritative writings - spanning antiquity to the present. It combines extensive introductions, headnotes, and bibliographies with ... literary translations of ... contemporary and classic writers.-Back cover. In addition to literary texts, [this book] includes selections from religious and philosophical texts that have literary merit, such as the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic and other intertestamental scriptures, and the Quran, as well as Sufi poems and teaching stories.-Pref.