Jesus and Muhammad: Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives

241 Pages·2011·1.65 MB·English

by  F. E. Peters

Jesus and Muhammad
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JESUS
AND
MUHAMMAD
Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives
F. E. PETERS
2011
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Copyright © 2011 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peters, F. E. (Francis E.)
Jesus and Muhammad : parallel tracks, parallel lives / F. E. Peters.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-974746-7
1. Jesus Christ—Biography.
2. Muhammad, Prophet, d. 632—Biography.
3. Christianity and other religions—Islam.
4. Islam—Relations—Christianity. I. Title.
BT301.3.P43 2010
200.92´2—dc22
[B] 2010006017
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For
Christine Goettsche Peters
a pluperfect 11, truly
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Contents
Introduction: Clearing the Ground xiii
Th e Art of Portraiture xiv
Th e Long Quests x v
History and Revelation xv
Saints and Th eir Lives x vi
In the Eyes of the Believers x viii
Polemic and History xix
Two Foreign Countries x x
Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives xxii
1. Th e Settings 1
J esus and First-Century Palestine 2
What Was on Jewish Minds in the First Century? 4
Sectarian Signals 5
Th e Context for Muhammad 7
The Silence of the Sources 7
Reconstructions 8
Extraction 8
Aft erthoughts: Th e Prophets in Place 1 0
Palestine and the Hijaz 10
Galilee and Mecca 11
2. Opening the Files 14
Th e Dossier on Jesus 1 4
The Pagan Sources 14
The Jewish Sources 15
The Christian Sources 17
viii contents
Th e Dossier on Muhammad 24
God Knows Best: The Quran 25
The Biographical Tradition 29
Bukhari and the “Prophetic Reports” 33
Western Historicism and Its Discontents 33
Tales of Wahb 34
Toward a Life 35
M uslim Patristics 36
Aft erthoughts: Th e New Testament and the Quran 36
3. Th e Critic at Work: Coming of Age 38
Jesus’ Infancy Narratives 3 8
Editorial Fingerprints on the Gospels 39
Jesus of Bethlehem 40
Recognitions 41
A Virginal Conception 42
The Nativity 43
In the Temple 43
Bar Mitzvah 44
One Man’s Family 45
The Women in Jesus’ Life 45
Afterthoughts: Editorial Opportunities 46
Th e “Infancy Gospel of Islam” 4 7
The Birth of Muhammad Ibn Abdullah 47
“The Men Who Have the Elephant” 48
An Uncertain Chronology 50
Presentiments and Prodigies 51
The Opening of the Breast, the Cleansing
of the Heart 52
An Arab Prophet 53
Coming of Age in Mecca 54
Bahira 55
The Sinful Wars 56
Marriage to Khadija 57
Muhammad the Trader 59
Aft erthoughts: Where Do We Stand? 6 0
Contents ix
4. Th e Living Voice 62
Jesus Speaks 62
Jesus’ Words 62
The Discovery of Q 63
The Making of Q 64
Q and Mark 64
The Q Text 65
Looking under the Hood 67
Q and Jesus 69
Q and the Death of Jesus 69
Q as a Literary Work 69
The Themes of Q, and of Jesus 71
When, Where, Who? 71
The People of Q 71
M uhammad Speaks, or Sings 72
Q and Quran 72
Muhammad, Prophet and Poet 73
Revelation as Oral Composition 74
The Objective 75
The Poet and the Performer 76
The Revelations Memorized 77
A Singer of Tales 78
Story and Storytelling 79
Muhammad’s Religious Repertoire 79
The Mantic Seer 80
The Miraculous Quran 82
Aft erthoughts: Q and the Hadith 8 2
5. Th e Message: Jesus in Galilee 84
Th e Shape of the Gospels 85
John the Baptist and Jesus 8 6
Th e Twelve 87
Spreading the Good News 8 8
An Itinerant Preacher 8 9
What Was the Good News? 90
Th e Kingdom 91