"Goethe said: 'As students of nature we are pantheists, as poets polytheists, as moral beings monotheists.' F. E. Peters's The Monotheists gives a keener edge to Goethe's irony, and he teaches us again the 'conflict and competition' between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Throughout his career, Peters has been our most comprehensive scholar of the agon waged by the three camps with one another. In The Monotheists he achieves the apotheosis of his enterprise, defining precisely this 'fractious family' in all its contours. The perpetual relevance of Peters's lifelong subject is heightened at our moment in history."--Harold Bloom, author of The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages
"A work of breathtaking scope! Many scholars write about Judaism and Christianity, or Judaism and Islam, or Islam and Christianity, but only F. E. Peters has the learning, adventurousness, and historical imagination to take on all three religions in relation to one another within the scope of one book. Written in a clear expository prose, these volumes will be an invaluable resource for students and teachers, diplomats and statesmen, journalists and pundits on the vexing religious topics that today seem an inevitable part of political life and social discourse."--Robert Louis Wilken, author of The Spirit of Early Christian Thought
"F. E. Peters has written a magisterial account of the family similarities and quarrels through the centuries of the three biblical religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In these two volumes, he is at once, as always, vastly learned and at the top of his form as an entertaining and persuasive writer. This work will immediately take its place as the standard account of the Hebrew Bible and its reflection in the Talmud, the New Testament, and the Koran."--Arthur Hertzberg, author of Jews: The Essence and Character of a People
"An authoritative introduction to the study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, The Monothesists will be especially useful for students in religious studies courses. To the initiates it offers an impressive original synthesis of the material and a challenging reading of important chapters in religious history. Written in clear, fluent prose, the book is never verbose, and its underlying structure is easy to follow."--Sarah Stroumsa, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of Freethinkers of Medieval Islam
"The Monotheists is a splendid work. It will be valuable as a classroom text on the three 'Western' monotheistic religious traditions, and it will also appeal to more general readers who seek to investigate the historical background to the present events in the Middle East. Previous such comparative studies are flawed by comparison."--Richard C. Martin, Emory University, author of Defenders of Reason in Islam
Winner of the 2003 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Religion, Association of American Publishers
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2004
"There is no more informative, accessible and comprehensive guide to the beliefs and practices of the three great monotheistic religions than these two volumes. . . . Peters has a great story to tell, and he tells it very well. He writes with extraordinary clarity and evenhandedness. . . . He treats thousands of complex and sensitive topics with meticulous learning without offending or proselytizing. Moreover, he manages to keep the three narratives--Judaism, Christianity and Islam--going at once, and allows readers both to appreciate the distinctive character of each and to see how their stories have very frequently intertwined."--Daniel J. Harrington, America
"Historian Peters has long been an astute and objective chronicler of the history and beliefs of the three great monotheistic religions--Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In this sprawling, majestic and elegant narrative, he offers the best study we presently have of the ways, words and wisdom of these religions [with] straightforward prose and evenhanded examination. . . Peters's magnificent book is the new place to turn for a first-rate historical introduction to these three religions."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Peters has done it again. With these two volumes he has created an excellent and timely resource for understanding the similarities and differences between the three monotheistic traditions of the West."--Choice
"[A] titanic undertaking. . . . The Monotheists is not exceptional for [its] detachment alone, or for its erudition, or even for its originality. It is exceptional because Peters has created a new genre for it."--Jack Miles, Los Angeles Times 2. UNDERSTANDING THE WORD OF GOD 3. SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION 4. GOD'S LAW AND ITS OBSERVANCE 5. GOD'S COMMANDMENTS AND HUMAN MORALITY 6. DIVINE WORSHIP 7. THINKING ABOUT GOD 8. FROM DESERT SAINTS TO MUSLIM SUFIS 9. LEAPING FROM THE DARK INTO THE LIGHT: MYSTICISM 10. THE LAST THINGS END THOUGHTS
Introduction xxi
1. THE SCRIPTURES: BIBLE, NEW TESTAMENT, AND QURAN
Three Sacred Books 2
People of the Book 3
The Bible 4
Sacred Tongues 5
On Translations 7
Scriptural Criticism 8
Who Wrote the Bible? 10
Explaining Revelation 11
High Prophetology 14
Heavenly Books 15
The New Testament: Notion, Text, and Canon 16
The Biblical Canon 18
The Inspiration of Scripture 20
Contingency and the Constraints of History 21
Humanist Critics of Scripture 23
The Old Testament and the New 24
The Arrangement of the Quran 25
The Composition of the Quran 27
The Editing of the Quran 29
The Collection of the Quran 30
Qere and Ketib 32
Interpolation and Abrogation 33
Closure 34
The Seal and the Silence 35
Biblical Exegesis 36
Midrash 37
An Unfolding Tradition 38
Philo Rereads Scripture 40
Evangelical Exegesis 41
The Senses of Scripture 42
Marcion Reads the Scripture 43
Why Don't We Understand?44
Fathers and Other Authorities 45
The Glossa Ordinaria, Christian and Jewish 46
The Quran Reads the Bible 46
Quranic Ambiguities 48
The "Occasions of Revelation" 49
Tabari Enthroned 50
Plain and Allegorical Exegesis in Islam 51
The Muslims Struggle with Revelation and Reason 52
Shiite Tafsir 54
Learning from the Muslims 55
Two Medieval Jewish Commentators: Ibn Ezra and Rashi 56
The Great Debates 57
The Reform of Christian Exegesis 60
Control of the Book 61
A Closer, and Different, Look at Scripture 62
Exegesis and Hermeneutics 63
The Great Tradition 65
Rabbinic Judaism 66
"How Many Torahs Do You Have?" 68
Making the Mishnah 69
Mishnah and Gemara 70
Validating the Rabbis 71
Attacking the Tradition: Sadducees and Karaites 71
Jewish Reform 73
The Beginnings of a Christian Tradition 74
The Deposit of Faith 74
Apostolic Tradition and Apostolic Succession 75
Sola Scriptura 76
The Tradition Debate 78
The War of the Historians 79
The Sunna of the Prophet 80
Hadith Criticism 82
The Canonical Collections 83
Quran and Sunna 84
The Shiite Hadith 85
Purity and Defilement 87
Biblical Law 88
The Lesson of Qumran 89
The Tradition from the Fathers 90
The Mishnah and the Two Talmuds 91
Two Jewish Codes: Mishneh Torah and Shulkhan Aruk 92
The Purpose of the Law 94
The Administration of Jewish Law 94
The Rabbis 95
The Instruments of God's Justice 96
Jesus and the Law 96
Christians and the Law 97
A Law for Christians 98
The Sources of Christian Law 99
The Codification of Church Law 101
The Beginnings of Western Canon Law 101
Gratian 102
Catechesis and Catechism 103
An Islamic Catechism: The Pillars of Islam 105
Sharia, the Muslim Way 106
From Prophetic Tradition to Law 108
The Administration of Justice in Islam 109
The Qadi 110
The Qadi's Justice 111
Responsa and Fatwas: The Mufti 112
The Qadi and the Mufti 113
The Schools 114
Shiite Law 115
Ijtihad 116
The Closing of the Gate 117
The Hierarchization of the Ulama 118
Ijtihad Unchained 120
Customary Law and Governance in Islam 121
Qanun: The Sultan's Law 122
Jewish Rabbis and Islamic Ulama 123
Values and Value Systems 127
Whence Evil?129
The Diabolic, the Demonic 130
The Jinn, Shaytan, and Iblis 132
Sin and Atonement in Israel 133
Acquittal 134
Jesus' Moral Teaching 135
Pauline Morality 136
Original Sin 137
Manichaeism 138
Augustine as Moralist 139
Augustine and Pelagius 140
Penance and the Sacramental System 141
Purgatory and Indulgences 143
Who Will Be Saved? 145
The Absolute Will of God 146
The Disputed Question of Nature and Grace 147
Justification 148
Doubly Saved and Doubly Damned 149
The Council of Trent on Justification 150
The Magisterium Restored 151
A Conference on "Aids" 152
The Crisis in Catholic Morality 153
Jansenism 155
From Pascal to Alfonso di Ligouri 157
Muhammad as Moral Exemplar 158
Islamic Morality 160
Free Will and Predestination in Islam 162
A Rationalist Solution 163
Acquiring Responsibility 164
Consensus on Matters Moral 165
Shekinah/Sakina 168
Sacrifice 169
The Jesus Sacrifice 170
The Jewish Priesthood 171
The Synagogue 172
The Eucharist 174
Liturgies Eastern and Western 175
Eucharistic Issues: Who, When, and How? 177
The Reform Liturgy 178
Christmas 178
Muslim Prayer 179
Friday Prayer and the Mosque 180
The Hajj 180
Intercalation Prohibited 183
The Enshrinement of Jerusalem 184
Christian Pilgrimage 185
The Western Wall 187
Popular Devotions in Christianity 188
The Cult of Mary 189
From Piety to Dogma: An Immaculate Conception and Prophetic Impeccability 190
The Veneration of the Saints 192
Canonization 193
Eucharistic Devotions 194
Popular Devotions in Islam 195
The Friends of God 197
Three Dramatic Narratives: Passover, Passion, and the Death of Husayn 198
Idols and Images 200
Emperor Portrayal, Christian Style 202
Christian Images 203
Christian Iconoclasm 204
Stripping the Altars: Images and the Reform 206
Islam and the Graven Image 207
The Word as Decoration 208
Mythos and Logos 211
The Theology of Philo of Alexandria 213
Athens and Jerusalem 215
Theology and Creeds: Nicaea to Chalcedon 217
The Muslims Encounter Aristotle 219
Falsafa 220
Talking about God: The Muslim Beginnings 222
Learning to Speak Dialectically 223
An Islamic Inquisition 225
Kalam Matured 226
Muslim Creeds 228
Reason and Revelation in Islam 230
God Supreme: Islamic Occasionalism 232
Ibn Rushd 233
The Voice of Conservative Islamic Orthodoxy 235
Jewish Kalam 236
A Guide for the Perplexed 237
Falsafa and Kalam 238
Received Wisdom 238
Sacred Theology, Western Style 240
Thomas Aquinas 241
Scholasticism 242
Latin Averroism 244
The Two Faces of Truth 244
The Reformation and Christian Systematic Theology 246
The Wisdom of Illumination 247
The School of Isfahan 249
The Way of the World 251
The Issue of Jewish Asceticism 252
The Desert a City 254
Obedience of the Spirit 255
The Saints in the City 256
The Rule of St. Basil 257
Benedict and the Benedictines 258
Benedictine Experiments: Carthusians and Cistercians 260
Canons Regular and Other 261
The Mendicant Friars: Franciscans and Dominicans 262
Is Perfection Possible? The Franciscan Controversy 265
Military Orders, Christian and Muslim 267
The Rise and Fall of the Society of Jesus 270
The Holy Mountain 273
The Personal Life of Muhammad 274
This World and the Next 275
The Beginnings of Muslim Asceticism 276
Sufi Convents: Khanqah, Ribat, Zawiya 278
The Sufi Orders 279
Sufis in the Service of Islam: Chishtis and Bektashis 282
The Chinese Rites 284
Christian and Muslim Religious Orders 285
Suppression 286
Jewish Brotherhoods in Galilee 287
Saints without Rules: The Hasidim 288
The Apostolic Succession in Eastern Europe 290
The Habad 291
Face to Face with God 293
The Beginnings 294
The Adepts of Qumran 295
The Celestial Chariot 295
"Four Who Attempted to Enter Paradise" 296
God's Love, God's Body 297
The Palaces 297
The Book of Creation 298
From Christian Asceticism to Mysticism 299
Approaching the Unknowable 301
The Jesus Prayer 302
Hesychasm 303
God's Energies and God's Essence 305
Spirituality, Eastern and Western 306
The Spiritual Exercises 306
Muhammad Cleansed, and Rapt 308
Did Muhammad See God? 309
The Sufi as Mystic 310
The Growth of Sufi Theory 311
Sufism and Gnosticism 313
Sufis and Shiites 314
Al-Hallaj 315
The Sufi Way 317
Practical Sufism 318
Spiritual Hierarchies 320
The Apotheosis of Ali: The Alawis 320
The Fathers of Islamic Theosophy: Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi 321
Defender of the Faith 324
Making Sufism Safe for Islam 326
Spiritual Resurrection 327
On the Edge: Ibn Arabi 327
The Seal of the Saints 329
The Teaching and Its Opponents 330
The Beginnings of Kabbalah 333
The Zohar 334
The World of the Sefiroth 335
Isaac Luria 336
Kabbalah for Everyone: Hasidism 337
End Time Scenarios 339
After Death, What? 341
Death and Judgment 342
The Particular Judgment 343
The Resurrection of the Body 343
The Seed, the Statue, and the Conjunction of Materia and Forma 345
In the Meantime . . . 346
The Cosmology of the Other World 347
Mapping Paradise and Hell 349
A Heavenly Journey 350
Living High: The Angels 351
Angels in Arabia 353
The Vision of God 354
With a Little Help from the Creator 355
Paradise Lost: Maimonides (and Others) on the World to Come 356
Salvation 358
Religious Zionism: Hurrying the End 359
Political Zionism and Eretz Israel 360
The Birth Pangs of the Messiah 362
Realized and Futurist Eschatology in Christianity 363
A Christian Apocalypse 364
Millennialism/Chilianism 365
The Reign of the Spirit: Joachim de Fiore 366
Abraham the Intercessor 368
The Muslim Dead 369
The Quranic Eschaton 371
Intercession in Islam 371
A Savior Returns 372
The Mahdi 375
People of the Book, and of the Covenant 377
Odium Theologicum 377
The Religion of Abraham 378
Who Is the Heir? 379
The True Israel 380
A Fractious Family 381
The Rivals' Charms 383
Faith and History 384
Index 387
Aprende a Dibujar: Creación de Personajes
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