This time of year is one of the most important ones for Christians. Really, this week is the crux of our convictions and beliefs. While I've always been interested in the history of religion, particularly Christianity (specifically, Catholicism), Islam and Judaism, this year I've been especially curious.
I just got back from a Seder (the first meal of Passover), celebrating with my Jewish friends. I wish I knew more about Judaism; it's like learning about your past to figure out who you are today. There are a lot of Catholic rituals that come from Jewish roots and I'd love to learn more about what we share and what our differences are. The Seder tonight did a great job of connecting some of the Old Testament stories into a cohesive history that explains a lot about the Jewish faith. As a Catholic, I felt closer to my own religion (and closer to truly understanding it) by celebrating a Jewish tradition and holiday.
I'm now on a quest to learn more about the history of religion...what beliefs do Christians, Muslims and Jews share and are our differences really all that different? What are the common ties? And how are we all interrelated?
If anyone has any great books or articles that they'd recommend, please let me know!
7 comments:
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I know exactly what you mean about this week being so important. The last week has reinforced how important my faith is to me. I tend to be quietly religious as I have friends of other/no faith. But the period of Lent and Holy Week remind me how much my faith actually guides my everyday life.
(p.s) I found your blog through STL sarah. It's a good read :)
The main difference between the 3...Jesus.
Christians believe He is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. He is the Messiah, the Son of God, who came to Earth in the human form and took upon the world's sin, was cruxified, buried, rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father. He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through (Him)." If you don't believe in Jesus and what he did on the cross for you, you will not enter into heaven.
Muslims believe Jesus was simply a prophet.
Jews believe Jesus was a heretic. They don't believe He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, for example read Isaiah 53 and see if that doesn't sound familiar.
As a side note, I don't believe that the Muslim god is the same God Christians worship.
I'd be more than happy to discuss this with you in further detail, outside of your blog.
WOW, Jessica, Martha, Laura I'm sorry, but that's incredible. You all have degrees from 4 year colleges, and I'm amazed that those schools hand out degrees without teaching the most basic elements of other religions - especially considering the importance of religion to human history, current geo-politics, etc. This isn't a jab at any of you - it just reflects my frustration with the misinformation (or lack of information) even at the highest levels of education. My dissertation is on the way Christians and Muslims approached this very same issue during the Middle Ages - basically the time period that created all the misinformation on BOTH sides. And you wouldn't believe how the very same things that each side says about the other is almost verbatim the same as the texts written a thousand years ago.
Yes, Jews, Musims, and Christians believe in the same God. All three faiths have a common start with Abraham. Both of his sons were promised great nations, and so Jesus and Moses come from the line of Isaac, and Muhammed comes from the line of Ishmael.
Jews continue to wait for the Messiah, but they believe in the same God you do - otherwise, why include the Old Testament in the Bible right?
Muslims absolutely believe in the same God as Christians. "Allah" simply means "the God" (in other words, the singular form of God). Muslims believe in all the prophets from Abraham to Moses and so on. In addition, and here's the kicker, Muslims do believe that Jesus is the Messiah. He will return at the End of Days. Muslims also believe in the Virgin Birth, and Jews and Christians are "Poeples of the Book" according to the Quran because they believe in the same God and the same foundational texts.
The only difference between Christianity and Islam is that although both believe Jesus is the Messiah, Muslims do not believe Jesus is God or the Son of God. You'd think this means they believe something completely different, but here's the kicker: the Quran calls Jesus the Word and Spirit of God. Sound familiar? It comes down to different word choice in the end.
So yes, Jessica, your research was right, and I'm really glad that you took it into your hands to find out - Muslims believe in the same God you do. The same God of mercy and compassion that created the Heavens and the Earth and created humans out of the earth - all the stories are the same, including Noah's flood, the freeing of Israel from Egypt by Moses, the Virgin birth, etc.
I'm not writing this to be a jerk - by no means is my intention to start a fight or to put anyone down. Lately I've just been very frustrated at the misinformation out there - in the media, in the books I see at Borders, and on the internet - remember that even wikipedia is maintained by users. I grow even more frustrated the more I study the historical relationship between Christianity and Islam for my dissertation because people today don't realize that all of these misconceptions (going BOTH ways) are the result of basic propaganda during the middle ages. There's too much hatred out there - and since at the heart of Christianity AND Islam is the message of love, mercy, and compassion, we are obligated in our faith in God to emphasize those qualities among our fellow man. The rest is left to God.
I'd be happy to talk about this further. You know where to find me. Again, my intention here is not to be an ass - it's to fight barriers and misconceptions that are the result of unfounded fear.
Nothing like religion to light up the boards! It's great that we live in a country that can talka bout these things freely and openly.
Islam, Christianity and Judaism all share a common history, which is what makes those three religions fascinating to me. We do share the same God, the same ancestory, the same stories. So how did the differences happen and what are the things that we believe differently?
To Robert's point about religious education, I think some of it is lacking in college. However, I also think colleges have to balance offering diverse courses and giving students the ability to choose what interests them the most. On top of that, there also is a balance between all the other disciplines that we must take, so usually schedules only allow for one religion course, unless the student is majoring (or has an otherwise interest) in the subject. Robert, it sounds like you've done some research on the topic. I would love to read what you've done!
At Wake, I took Early Christianity, which gave a great history of the early popes and early Christianity. At the time, I wasn't interested in the things that I'm interested in now, and frankly, politics weren't quite the same in the late 90's are they are today, which piques my interest more.
I do think churches (of all creeds) could do a better job of offering classes or seminars about other religions. We could all better from learning from and about each other. Maybe that would help with some of the world's problems. I'm actually looking at community college courses to see if there's anything in this space that I could take to get a bit more educated on the subject.
As a side note, Martha - not all Christian religions believe you have to be saved to go to heaven. Catholics, for example, believe "not by faith alone" - your "entry" into heaven has more to do with what you do on earth - your acts - than in what you believe.
Unfortunately, 4 years just doesn't seem to be enough to study all the things we want to anymore. Some schools are starting to require some comparative religioun classes in the gen eds. SLU requires 3 courses, and although it's a jesuit university, most of the theology courses offered cover other religions. Maya took a couple of great classes on Jerusalem and the 3 faiths from Prof. Renard, who happens to be one of the leading scholars on Islam in the US. His book is 101 Questions on Islam. It's a good place to start.
Another great book is Lex Hixon's Heart of the Koran. It is written by an American who travels to Istanbul to learn about the Sufis. Sufis are Islamic mystics - you know them as the whirling dervishes. Hixon studies and spends a great deal of time with them. In his book, he explains Islam and the Sufi tradition. He also gives an account of his own experiences meditating on specific verses in the Quran as well as Islam's relationship to Judaism and Christianity. So the second half of his book is an account of his meditations on those verses. Basically, instead of quoting the verses, he gives them to us in the way a Sufi would interpret them.
Really, Sufis are very similar to Christian and Jewish mystics. The goal is to become one with God in every action in life. They see God as Love and as the One Unifying Force in the Universe. Their philosophy can be boiled down to 2 sentences: Nothing exists but God. And everything that exists IS God.
Last summer when Maya and I went to Istanbul for our honeymoon, we went to see the whirling dervishes at the Sufi lodge. We didn't get a chance to see their ceremony the first time we went to Turkey together, so this was our first priority on this trip. In the ceremony, the dervishes wear long white robes and a tall wool hat. They come in wearing a black robe over the white. The black robe represents their death to this world. After some prayers, the robes are taken off to reveal the white robes, which represent their burial shroud. Their hats represent their tombstones. The whole point of the first part of the ceremony is to shed this life and their egos.
They then beginning whirling with one hand stretched out and facing up to God and the other stretched out and facing down to the earth. The dervishes become vessels to transfer the mercy and compassion of God upon the earth. In their whirling, they are to become one with God.
Before the ceremony, their leader came out and explained some of the ceremony to us, and he said that as we learn more about the universe, we learn that the galaxies, the planets, and the atoms in our bodies all spin. The whole time they spin, all of creation chants "Allah Allah Allah" ("God God God"). And so, he said, we whirl and we say "Allah Allah Allah." It was so simple and so pure.
Hixon's book goes more into the Sufi tradition and beliefs. You see, although Islam doesn't have different churches (like Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, etc), there are different schools of thought. Since this particular Sufi group is mostly in Turkey, it has influenced Muslims in Turkey a great deal, and that has led to a much more liberal Islam in Turkey than you have in Iran or Saudi Arabia. One of the most important Sufis is Rumi (13th century). He was also a Sufi poet. I highly recommend his poetry - it's absolutely amazing, and one of his poems was used in our wedding. One of his most famous poems says that whether you worship in a church, temple, or mosque, as long as you worship Love (God), then you are my brother - that was written 800 years ago!
Another great book is Maria Rosa Menocal's The Ornament of the World. It deals with Spain in the middle ages (Spain was under Muslim rule for 500 years) and how Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together in a culture of tolerance until 1492 and the Inquisition. It's a beautifully written book (intended for experts and novices alike) and it'll give a really good sense of the symbiotic relationship between the three faiths. I did some of my research on this relationship in Spain, and I'd be happy to send it along if you're interested.
Rob, your trip sounds fascinating. Have you read The Battle for God or The History of God? I think they are both by the same author and reviews have said they're a good overview. I'll have to check out the other books that you recommended as well. I got a gift certificate to Amazon.com, so I'll be a doing a little shopping soon for these books!
I'd love to read your research! Please send it along!
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