The Oxford Handbook of the Abrahamic Religions

by Silverstein, Adam J.; Stroumsa, Guy G.; Blidstein, Moshe

• ISBN13: 9780198783015
• ISBN10: 0198783019
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2018-04-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of the Abrahamic Religions includes authoritative yet accessible studies on a wide variety of topics dealing comparatively with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as with the interactions between the adherents of these religions throughout history. The comparative study of the Abrahamic Religions has been undertaken for many centuries. More often than not, these studies reflected a polemical rather than an ecumenical approach to the topic. Since the nineteenth century, the comparative study of the Abrahamic Religions has not been pursued either intensively or systematically, and it is only recently that the comparative study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has received more serious attention. This volume contributes to the emergence and development of the comparative study of the Abrahamic religions, a discipline which is now in its formative stages.

This Handbook includes both critical and supportive perspectives on the very concept of the Abrahamic religions and discussions on the role of the figure of Abraham in these religions. It features 32 essays, by the foremost scholars in the field, on the historical interactions between Abrahamic communities; on Holy Scriptures and their interpretation; on conceptions of religious history; on various topics and strands of religious thought, such as monotheism and mysticism; on rituals of prayer, purity, and sainthood, on love in the three religions and on fundamentalism. The volume concludes with three epilogues written by three influential figures in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities, to provide a broader perspective on the comparative study of the Abrahamic religions. This ground-breaking work introduces readers to the challenges and rewards of studying these three religions together.

Author Biography

Adam J. Silverstein, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Bar Ilan University,Guy G. Stroumsa, Martin Buber Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor Emeritus of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions, University of Oxford,Moshe Blidstein, Fellow, The Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Adam J. Silverstein is Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. His research interests include the history of the Middle East from late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, especially the relationships between Abrahamic Religions. His publications include Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World (2010) and slamic History: A Very Short Introduction (2010).

Guy G. Stroumsa is Professor Emeritus of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions at University of Oxford and Martin Buber Professor of Comparative Religion Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He obtained his PhD from Harvard in 1978. Professor Stroumsa received a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Zurich in 2004, an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award in 2008, and a Chevalier dans l'Ordre du Merite in 2012. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is the author of The Making of the Abrahamic Religions in Late Antiquity (2015).

Moshe Blidstein is Postdoctoral fellow at the Martin Buber Society of Fellows at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Purity, Community, and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017).

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Contributors
Part I: The Concept of the Abrahamic Religions
1. Abraham and Authenticity, Reuven Firestone
2. Abrahamic Experiments in History, Adam Silverstein
3. Three Rings or Three Impostors? The Comparative Approach to the Abrahamic Religions and its Origins, Guy G. Stroumsa
4. The Abrahamic Religions as a Modern Concept, Mark Silk
5. Philosophical Perspectives, Rémi Brague
6. Yet Another Abraham, Gil Anidjar
Part II: Communities
7. Islamo-Christian Civilization, Richard Bulliet
8. The Abrahamic Religions in the Mediterranean, David Abulafia
9. Justice, Uriel Simonsohn
10. Jews and Muslims in Christian Law and History, John Tolan
11. Beyond Exclusivism in the Middle Ages: On the Three Rings, the Three Impostors, and the Discourse of Multiplicity, Dorothea Weltecke
Part III: Scripture and Hermeneutics
12. Historical-Critical Readings of the Abrahamic Scriptures, Nicolai Sinai
13. Interpreters of Scripture, Carol Bakhos
14. The Finality of Prophecy, David Powers
15. Apocalypticism, Millenarianism, and Messianism, Lutz Greisiger
16. Religious Dualism and the Abrahamic Religions, Yuri Stoyanov
Part IV: Religious Thought
17. The Abrahamic Religions and the Classical Tradition, Peter E. Pormann
18. Confessing Monotheism in Arabic (at-Tawḥīd): The One God of Abraham and His Apologists, Sidney Griffith
19. Philosophy and Theology, Carlos Fraenkel
20. Science and Creation: The Mediaeval Heritage, William E. Carroll
21. Mysticism in the Abrahamic Religions, Moshe Idel
22. Political Thought, Anthony Black
Part V: Rituals and Ethics
23. Clemens Leonhard and Martin Lüstraeten, Prayer
24. Purity and Defilement, Moshe Blidstein
25. Dietary Law, David Freidenreich
26. Life-Cycle Rites of Passage, Harvey E. Goldberg
27. The Cult of Saints and Pilgrimage, Yousef Meri
28. Religions of Love: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, David Nirenberg
29. Religion and Politics in the Age of Fundamentalisms, Malise Ruthven
Part VI: Epilogues
30. Jewish and other Abrahamic Philosophic Arguments for Abrahamic Studies, Peter Ochs
31. Christian Perspectives: Settings, Theology, Practices, and Challenges, David F. Ford
32. Islamic Perspectives, Tariq Ramadan