Jesus and Muhammad: Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives - Hardcover

Peters, F. E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199747466 ISBN 13: 9780199747467

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010

Synopsis

In Jesus and Muhammad, Peters presents a balanced and objective study of two of the most renowned and controversial individuals in history, examining their lives and careers and the paths down which historians, both believers and non-believers, have pursued them over the last century and a half.

About this title

About the Author

F. E. Peters is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Religion at New York University and a scholar and teacher of classics, philosophy, urbanism, Middle Eastern history, and Islamic Studies. The author of pioneering comparative studies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Peters remains a leader in this field.

Reviews

Peters, New York University professor emeritus, adds this short book juxtaposing the lives of the central figures of Christianity and Islam to his already prolific offerings on comparative religion. Most chapters address one aspect of each prophet's life: the setting for Jesus' life and then Muhammad's in chapter one, a brief biographical background on Jesus and then Muhammad in chapter two, and so on. Natural similarities and potentially enlightening differences appear (such as Muhammad's becoming the sovereign of his own Islamic nation while Jesus, who never held a governance position as Muhammad did, was a "man-God, a human voice with the gravity of the Divine"), but not much more is done with them. Peters seems particularly and inexplicably dismissive of certain commonly held beliefs among Muslims and Muhammad biographers, among them Muhammad's age (Muslim tradition says he was 40); the circumstances of his marriage to his first wife, Khadija (most sources say it resulted from Khadija's own proposal); and Peters's stubborn habit of describing the Qur'an as poetry and Muhammad as a poet, although such a view is anathema in Islam or Islamic studies. Besides being somewhat dull, the book is short on useful conclusions. (Nov.)
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Combining Schweitzer’s famous quest for the historical Jesus with Sprenger’s less-well-known quest for the historical Muhammad, Peters advances a provocatively original comparison. Mining the Bible, the Antiquities of Josephus, and various apocryphal texts, Peters develops a portrait of Jesus that strikingly resembles the image of Muhammad emerging from the Sirach, the Qur’an, and the prophetic traditions of the Sahih. Peters depicts the careers of both religious leaders as two-act dramas: a first act concluding amid threats and danger; a second act unfolding a stunning denouement. But beyond the similarities, Peters discerns differences, none more important than that separating Muhammad as a prophet delivering a message from God and Jesus as the anointed messiah who was God’s incarnate message. And readers will recognize the enduring political consequences springing from the contrast between Jesus as a decidedly apolitical teacher and Muhammad as a militantly political general. Himself unmoved by the passions that sustain the Christian and Islamic faiths, Peters delivers a painstakingly objective analysis of the historical profiles of their founders. --Bryce Christensen

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199747466
• ISBN 13: 9780199747467
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 214