Charles L. Cohen

The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction

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In the book of Genesis, God bestows a new name upon Abram--Abraham, a father of many nations. With this name and his Covenant, Abraham would become the patriarch of three of the world's major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Connected by their mutual--if differentiated--veneration of the One God proclaimed by Abraham, these traditions share much beyond their origins in the ancient Israel of the Old Testament. This Very Short Introduction explores the intertwined histories of these monotheistic religions, from the emergence of Christianity and Islam to the violence of the Crusades and the cultural exchanges of al-Andalus.
Each religion continues to be shaped by this history but has also reacted to the forces of modernity and politics. Movements such as the Reformation and that led by seventh-century Kharijites have emerged, intentioned to reform or restore traditional religious practice but quite different in their goals and effects. Relationships with states, among them Israel and Saudi Arabia, have also figured importantly in their development. The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction brings these traditions together into a common narrative, lending much needed context to the story of Abraham and his descendants.
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Impressions

  • Francisco Samourshared an impression7 months ago

    Very through and accessible introduction to the similarities and differences between Islam, Judaism and Christianity

Quotes

  • Francisco Samourhas quoted7 months ago
    each party insists, “Dad always loved me best.”
  • Francisco Samourhas quoted7 months ago
    Islam, by this reckoning, is not an Abrahamic religion but the religion of Abraham—its oldest, truest manifestation—and the umma are the people “worthiest” of him (Qur. 3:68). Confounding truth with error, the “People of the Book” see only through a dark glass.
  • Francisco Samourhas quoted7 months ago
    Adherents of the Abrahamic religions ordinarily pursue God through mediated means such as worship, prayer, or scripture reading, but their literatures also report instances of unitive mysticism—the practice in which a believer enters into a transcendent union with the divine. Individuals have recounted such experiences in terms of communicating with, cleaving to, or dissolving into God while apprehending unfathomable wisdom or sublime love. Unitive mysticism can take distinctive forms in each religion, among them Kabbalistic practice in Judaism, individual visionary quests in Western Christianity, contemplative prayer in Eastern Orthodoxy, and Sufi disciplines in Islam. Yet, at the same time, the yearning for mystical union can blur doctrinal, legal, and sectarian boundaries, a condition that the Sufi Jalal ad-Din Rumi—whose death is said to have been lamented by Jews and Christians along with Muslims—celebrated:

    I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr [Magian], nor Moslem.…

    My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless;

    ’Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved.

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