Three Faiths, One God: The Formative Faith and Practice of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

346 Pages·2002·11.66 MB·English

by  Jacob Neusner

THREE FAITHS, ONE GOD

THREE FAITHS, ONE GOD
The Formative Faith and Practice of Judaism.,
Christianity, and Islam
BY
JACOB NEUSNER
BRUCE CHILTON
WILLIAM GRAHAM
. , S
'68^ י
BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS, INC.
BOSTON · LEIDEN
2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neusner, Jacob, 1932־
Three faiths, one God: the formative faith and practice of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam/by Jacob Neusner, Bruce Chilton, and William
Graham,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-391-04146-0
1. Monotheism—Comparative studies. 2. Judaism. 3. Christianity.
4. Islam. I. Chilton, Bruce. II. Graham, William A. (William Albert),
1943-. III. Title.
BL221 .N45 2002
291.1 '4—dc21
2002011456
ISBN 0-391-04146-0
Paperback ISBN 0-391-04180-0
© Copyright 2002 by Brill Academic Publishers, Inc., Boston
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CONTENTS
PREFACE vii
L THREE FAITHS, ONE GOD: THE CLASSICAL
STATEMENTS 1
A. The Issue 1
B. Normative Judaism: The Torah, Written
and Oral 2
I. The Theology 2
II. The Documents that Convey the Theology 5
C. Classical Christianity: The Bible, Old and
New Testaments 13
I. The Theology 13
II. The Documents that Convey the Theology 14
D. Foundational Islam: The Qpr'ân and Prophetic
Sunnah 23
I. The Theology 26
II. The Documents that Convey the Theology 28
2. THE PERSON OF GOD 36
A. The Issue 36
B. God Incarnate: Christianity 36
C. One God, Many Forms: Judaism 59
D. One God, Unitary and Transcendent: Islam 79
3. GOD'S PEOPLE 99
A. The Issue 99
B. The Community of the Faithful: Islam 100
C. All Are One in Christ Jesus: Christianity 114
D. "Hear, Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord
is One": Judaism 138
vi CONTENTS
4. THE HOLY WAY OF LIFE 161
A. The Issue 161
Β. "You Shall be Holy, for I the Lord Your
God am Holy": Judaism 161
C. "Take Up Your Cross, and Follow Me":
Christianity 175
D. "In the Way of God": Muslim Practice 190
5. THE BELIEVERS AND THE UNBELIEVERS 208
A. The Issue 208
B. Avoid Idolaters at All Costs: Judaism 209
C. Converting Judaism (and all the Rest): Christianity .... 223
D. The Faithful and the Unfaithful: Islam 240
6. THE END OF DAYS 255
A. The Issue 255
B. Sanctification Now, for Salvation Then: Judaism 255
C. Resurrection as Metamorphosis: Christianity 270
D. Living for Resurrection and Judgment: Islam 290
INDEX OF SCRIPTURE AND ANCIENT SOURCES 309
INDEX OF SUBJECTS 322
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS 328
PREFACE
The three monotheist religious traditions, Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam, are here systematically described, side by side. Our concern
is how, in the early, or classical sources' of each of the three the
belief in one unique God, who made heaven and earth and who
made himself known to his Creation, works itself out in the three
different ways set forth here. We lay stress upon Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam not as competing philosophies but as three autonomous
religious traditions, each with its own way of telling its unique story,
yet all of them addressing a common set of five issues: (1) what we
know about God and how we know it; (2) what it means to form
God's people; (3) what living the holy way of life requires; (4) how
to deal with outsiders to the faith; and (5) what the goal of human
history, namely the resurrection and last judgment, is.
That is not to allege that the three traditions share a common
structure, only that they intersect at some important points of fun-
damental concern. Here we spell out the five we perceive to be the
most important. This is therefore a work of description. Involved,
first of all, are the particularities of the three religions: how each
one of them, with its own unique foci and emphases, doctrines, prac-
tice, and beliefs, respectively, forms a coherent social system of thought
and practice. But readers will observe points of commonality and
note similar circles of conviction. The conclusion may be simply put.
Although comparable in basic categories, in details each stands on
its own. God lives in the details, but it is one and the same God.
This we show when the three are set forth in a single, common con-
text. 111 this way we put the relevant information at peoples' fingertips.
The upshot is, while at important points the three religions address
the same topic and in some ways overlap, they differ sufficiently
so that they cannot claim to be saying the same things, and only to
be doing so each in its own idiom. The differences are more than
1 In the citations that follow, each of the authors translated the original Jewish
(Neusner), Islamic (Graham), or Christian (Chilton) sources, unless otherwise noted.
Vlll PREFACE
verbal. But we aspire to show, too, that the three religions bear in
common the potential of mutual understanding despite their vari-
ance in their particularities.
That is because of a simple fact. Falling into the genus of religion
and forming a single sub-species of theistic religions, the three
monotheisms among all theistic religions bear a unique relationship
to one another. That is because they concur not only in general,
but in particular ways. Specifically, they tell stories of the same type,
and some of the stories that they tell turn out to go over much the
same ground. Specifically, Judaism, with its focus upon the Hebrew
Scriptures of ancient Israel, tells the story of the one God, who ere-
ated man in his image, and of what happened then within the frame-
work of Israel, the holy people. Christianity takes up that story but
gives it a different reading and ending by instantiating the relations
between God and his people in the life of a single human being.
For its part, in sequence, Islam recapitulates some basic components
of the same story, affirming the revelations of Judaism and then
Christianity, but drawing the story onward to yet another climax.
We cannot point to any three other religions that form so intimate
a narrative relationship as do the successive revelations of monothe-
ism. No other set of triplets tells a single, continuous story for them-
selves as do Islam in relationship to Christianity, and Christianity in
relationship to Judaism. What demands close reading is this: within
the logic of monotheism, how do Islam, Christianity, and Judaism
represent diverse choices among a common set of possibilities?
Here we explore five fundamental, indicative topics on which they
concur and differ. The basic categories are congruent; their articu-
lation is not. Our thesis is, if in these matters we understand the
relationships among the three different faiths in one God, we may
comprehend much about them. By showing the range and potential
of a common conviction that God is one and unique, makes demands
upon man's social order and the conduct of everyday life, distin-
guishes those who do his will from the rest of humanity, and will
stand in judgment upon all mankind at the end of days, the three
religions address a common program. But differing in detail, each
affords perspective upon the character of the others. Each sheds light
on the choices the others have made from what, we maintain, defines
a common agendum, a single menu: the category-formations that
they share. Here, then, is the order of exposition.
PREFACE IX
The Classical Sources and. Statements (Chapter One). First, we define the
sources upon which we draw for the description, analysis, and inter-
pretation of the normative doctrines of Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam. In this way we explain why we rely upon the writings specified.
Then we address the five topics that in our view sustain compari-
son and contrast among the three religious monotheisms.
The Person of God (Chapter Two). Does the interior logic of monothe-
ism require God to be represented as incorporeal and wholly abstract,
or can the one, unique God be represented by appeal to analogies
supplied by man? In line with Genesis 1:26, which speaks of God's
making man "in our image, after our likeness," and the commandment
(Ex. 20:4), "You shall not make yourself a graven image or any like-
ness of anything" in nature, what conclusions are to be drawn? At
one end of the continuum, Islam insists that God cannot be repre-
sented in any way, shape, or form, not even by man as created in
his image, after his likeness. At the other end, Christianity finds that
God is both embodied and eternally accessible in the fully divine
Son, Jesus Christ. In the middle Judaism represents God in some
ways as consubstantial with man, in other ways as wholly other.
The People of God (Chapter Three). God makes himself known to par-
ticular persons, who, in the nature of things, form communities
among themselves. God addresses a "you" that is not only singu-
lar—a Moses or a Jesus or a Muhammad—but plural—all who will
believe, act, and obey. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism concur that
the faithful form a distinct group, defined by those who accept God's
rule and regulation. But, among all humanity, how does that group
tell its story, and with what consequence for the definition of the
type of group that is constituted? Judaism tells the story of the faithful
as an extended family, all of them children of the same ancestors,
Abraham and Sarah. It invokes the metaphor of a family, with the
result that the faithful adopt for themselves the narrative of a super-
natural genealogy, one that finds within the family all who identify
themselves as part of it by making its story their genealogy too. Islam
dispenses entirely with the analogy of a family, defining God's people
instead through the image of a community of the faithful worship-
pers of God, seeing Muslims as supporters of one another and care-
takers of the least fortunate or weakest members of the community.