The Making of the Abrahamic Religions in Late Antiquity

268 Pages·2015·1.74 MB·English

by  Guy G. Stroumsa

OXFORD STUDIES IN THE ABRAHAMIC
RELIGIONS
General Editors
Adam J. Silverstein Guy G. Stroumsa
OXFORD STUDIES IN THE ABRAHAMIC
RELIGIONS
This series consists of scholarly monographs and other volumes at the cutting
edge of the study of Abrahamic religions. The increase in intellectual interest in
the comparative approach to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam reflects the striking
surge in the importance of religious traditions and patterns of thought and
behavior in the twenty-first century, at the global level. While this importance is
easy to detect, it remains to be identified clearly and analyzed, from a
comparative perspective. Our existing scholarly apparatus is not always adequate
in attempting to understand precisely the nature of similarities and differences
between the monotheistic religions, and the transformations of their “family
resemblances” in different cultural and historical contexts.
The works in the series are devoted to the study of how “Abrahamic”
traditions mix, blend, disintegrate, rebuild, clash, and impact upon one another,
usually in polemical contexts, but also, often, in odd, yet persistent ways of
interaction, reflecting the symbiosis between them.
The Making of
the Abrahamic Religions
in Late Antiquity
GUY G. STROUMSA
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the
University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and
education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK
and in certain other countries © Guy G. Stroumsa 2015
The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2015
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University
Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the
Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any
other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of
America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of
America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014957582
ISBN 978–0–19–873886–2
ebook ISBN 978–0–19–105913–1
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford
disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work
For Sarah
Forty years later
Acknowledgments
The idea of this book took form during my tenure as Professor of the Study of
the Abrahamic Religions at Oxford (2009–14). As the first holder of the chair, I
sought to represent in a new light aspects of late antique religious history, on
which I had been working for a few decades. It struck me that some patterns
later to be identified as ‘Abrahamic’ were already present during the first
centuries , as Jews and Christians were vying for the title of the true inheritors
CE
of Abraham. The book’s main argument, then, is that it is in the religious history
of late antiquity that we should look, if we wish to understand the genesis of
Islam better.
The book’s ten chapters (most of them published previously in a different
version) tackle different issues of this central problem. Although much has
already been written on aspects of the problem, it is fair to say more work is
needed before a synthetic study can be attempted. At this stage, it is important to
realize that the birth of Islam must be seen as an integral part of late antiquity.1
Without developing a teleological approach, it is possible to analyze the
trajectories of concepts and thought patterns that rendered conversion to Islam,
on a large scale, possible in the seventh century and afterwards, throughout the
Near East.
During the long period of gestation of this book a great number of colleagues
have helped me formulate my views, in a number of ways. I am most grateful to
them all, although I might not be able to mention them all. At Oxford, Moshe
Blidstein, Markus Bockmuehl, Dame Averil Cameron, Beate Dignas, Mark
Edwards, Martin Goodman, Neil McLynn, Sir Fergus Millar, Robert Parker,
Nicolai Sinai, were my main interlocutors. Other colleagues and friends from
various places, Nicole Belayche, Corrine Bonnet, Jan Bremmer, Patricia Crone,
Ronnie Goldstein, Yonatan Moss, John Scheid, Shaul Shaked, and Sarah
Stroumsa have discussed various aspects of the problems tackled in chapters of
this book. So had the late Sabine MacCormack and Evelyne Patlagean. Thanks
to their remarks, this book is probably less inadequate than it would have been.
My gratitude also goes to Rami Schwartz, who has been extremely helpful in
preparing the final manuscript for the press and compiling the index, and to
Donald Watt, for his precious help in reading the proofs.
Finally, I should like to honor the memory of the Saudi benefactor who
endowed the Chair for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions at Oxford (and
wished to remain anonymous). For him, scholarship has a role to play in the
fight against religious bigotry among the children of Abraham. His vision has
sustained me during dark hours of violence and hatred.
Guy G. Stroumsa
Jerusalem
August 5, 2014 (9 Ab 5775)
1
In this regard, I should like to mention here two important books, which appeared too late for me to
discuss their findings in the present work: Aziz Al-Azmeh, The Emergence of Islam in Late Antiquity: Allāh
and his People (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), and Garth Fowden, Before and After
Muhammad: The First Millenium Refocused (Princeton, N.J. and Oxford: Princeton University Press,
2014).
Contents
Sources
Introduction: From Qumran to Qur’an: The Religious Worlds of Late
Antiquity
Part I: Transformations of Religion in Late Antiquity
1. The End of Sacrifice
2. Patterns of Rationalization
Part II: The True Prophet
3. False Prophets of Early Christianity
4. False Prophet and False Messiah
5. Seal of the Prophets
Part III: Religious Communities and God’s Law
6. Religious Dynamics between Jews and Christians
7. God’s Rule in Late Antiquity
Part IV: The Way to Mecca
8. Jewish-Christians and Islamic Origins
9. Christian Memories and Dreams of Jerusalem
10. Barbarians or Heretics?
Envoi: Athens, Jerusalem, Mecca: praeparatio coranica
Bibliography
Index