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F.E. Peters
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Jesus and Muhammad: Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
by F. E. Peters (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
3.7 on Goodreads
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Jesus and Muhammad are two of the best known and revered figures in history, each with a billion or more global followers. Now, in this intriguing volume, F.E. Peters offers a clear and compelling analysis of the parallel lives of Jesus and Muhammad, the first such in-depth comparison in print.
Like a detective, Peters compiles "dossiers" of what we do and do not know about the lives and portraits of these towering figures, drawing on the views of modern historians and the evidence of the Gospels and the Quran. With erudition and wit, the author nimbly leads the reader through drama and dogma to reveal surprising similarities between the two leaders and their messages. Each had a public career as a semi-successful preacher. Both encountered opposition that threatened their lives and those of their followers. Each left a body of teaching purported to be their very words, with an urgent imperative that all must become believers in the face of the approaching apocalypse. Both are symbols of hope on the one hand and of God's terrible judgment on the other. They are bringers of peace--and the sword. There is, however, a fundamental difference. Muslims revere Muhammad ibn Abdullah of Mecca as a mortal prophet. Although known as a prophet in his day, the Galilean Jew Jesus was and is believed by his followers to have been the promised Messiah, indeed the son of God. The Quran records revelations received by Muhammad as the messenger of God, whereas the revelations of the Gospels focus on Jesus and the events of his life and death.
A lasting contribution to interfaith understanding, Jesus and Muhammad offers lucid, intelligent answers to questions that underlie some of the world's most intractable conflicts.
From Publishers Weekly
Peters, New York University professor emeritus, adds this short book juxtaposing the lives of the central figures of Christianity and Islam to his already prolific offerings on comparative religion. Most chapters address one aspect of each prophet's life: the setting for Jesus' life and then Muhammad's in chapter one, a brief biographical background on Jesus and then Muhammad in chapter two, and so on. Natural similarities and potentially enlightening differences appear (such as Muhammad's becoming the sovereign of his own Islamic nation while Jesus, who never held a governance position as Muhammad did, was a "man-God, a human voice with the gravity of the Divine"), but not much more is done with them. Peters seems particularly and inexplicably dismissive of certain commonly held beliefs among Muslims and Muhammad biographers, among them Muhammad's age (Muslim tradition says he was 40); the circumstances of his marriage to his first wife, Khadija (most sources say it resulted from Khadija's own proposal); and Peters's stubborn habit of describing the Qur'an as poetry and Muhammad as a poet, although such a view is anathema in Islam or Islamic studies. Besides being somewhat dull, the book is short on useful conclusions. (Nov.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
Review
"Frank Peters has courage! In his latest book, this seasoned and knowledgeable scholar unravels the multiple layers of the interpretations surrounding the lives, contributions, and significance of no less than Christ and Muhammad. In a lucid and clear style, he manages to explain the enormity and
variety of the debates that have flourished around every aspect of the reality and legends surrounding Christ and Muhammad, and to do so while retaining the depth of interpretation and of analysis that such a complex topic requires. It takes decades of reflection and of study to reach the level of
sophistication yet clarity that this book achieves."
--Leila Fawaz, Issam M. Fares Professor of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies and Founding Director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Tufts University
"This comparative work shows how faith can forge bonds even when the faiths are quite different. Frank Peters's extensive familiarity with these two faiths bears exceptional fruit in this extended comparison."
--David Burrell, C.S.C., Professor of Ethics and Development, Uganda Martyrs University and Hesburgh Professor Emeritus in Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame
"Peters' work is both clearly structured and written, showing considerable knowledge of both faiths."--Journal for the Study of the New Testament
--This text refers to the hardcover edition.
About the Author
F. E. Peters is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Religion at New York University and a scholar and teacher of classics, philosophy, urbanism, Middle Eastern history, and Islamic Studies. The author of pioneering comparative studies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam,
Peters remains a leader in this field.
--This text refers to the hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Combining Schweitzer’s famous quest for the historical Jesus with Sprenger’s less-well-known quest for the historical Muhammad, Peters advances a provocatively original comparison. Mining the Bible, the Antiquities of Josephus, and various apocryphal texts, Peters develops a portrait of Jesus that strikingly resembles the image of Muhammad emerging from the Sirach, the Qur’an, and the prophetic traditions of the Sahih. Peters depicts the careers of both religious leaders as two-act dramas: a first act concluding amid threats and danger; a second act unfolding a stunning denouement. But beyond the similarities, Peters discerns differences, none more important than that separating Muhammad as a prophet delivering a message from God and Jesus as the anointed messiah who was God’s incarnate message. And readers will recognize the enduring political consequences springing from the contrast between Jesus as a decidedly apolitical teacher and Muhammad as a militantly political general. Himself unmoved by the passions that sustain the Christian and Islamic faiths, Peters delivers a painstakingly objective analysis of the historical profiles of their founders. --Bryce Christensen --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
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Product details
ASIN : B004A91HOU
Publisher : Oxford University Press; 1st edition (November 11, 2010)
Publication date : November 11, 2010
Language : English
File size : 1072 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
Print length : 238 pagesBest Sellers Rank: #2,515,580 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)#221 in Biographies of Islam
#815 in Islamic History
#966 in Muhammed in IslamCustomer Reviews:
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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F.E. Peters
F. E. Peters
Francis Edward Peters is Professor Emeritus of History, Religion and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. A native of NYC, where he attended Regis H.S. he was trained at St. Louis University in Classical Languages (AB, MA) and in Philosophy (Ph.L.), and received his Ph.D. from Princeton in Islamic Studies. Peters, though formally trained as both a classicist and an Islamicist, is best known as a historian of religion, a field where he was a pioneer, and is now the leading scholar, in the comparative study of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is a subject on which he has written more than twenty books, most notably the two volume The Monotheists (Princeton, 2003), The Children of Abraham. A new Edition now in the Princeton Classics series (Princeton, 2018) and The Voice, The Word, The Books: The Sacred Scriptures of the Jews, Christians and Muslims (Princeton 2007). His most recent, Jesus and Muhammad: Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives appeared from Oxford University Press in 2010, and he has contributed as well to the Oxford Bibliographies Online. .
In addition to his more than forty years teaching everything from Homer to Hasidism in the classrooms of NYU (where he chaired both the Classics and the Middle Eastern Studies departments and won a number of teaching awards), as well as accepting visiting professorships and guest lectureships at many of America's and the Middle East's top universities and has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, Peters has been featured on CBS' TV series Sunrise Semester and on a variety of TV documentaries and served as New York's WPIX TV anchorman for the original moon landing. He has three audio courses on tape and CD in the Barnes and Noble Portable Professor series. and has assisted in curating public exhibitions at Holy Cross College, The British Library and The New York Public Library.
Peters is currently working on a study entitled "The Construction of Christianity," a process that was begun by his followers immediately after his death and reached the initial stage of its formulation early in the second century with the first bundling of the four Gospels and Paul's letters into a New Testament. His research has resulted in a number of essays that will eventually be integrated into the finished book but are currently available on Peters' ongoing blog. available at fepeters.com. The blog also includes a number of studies on Islam, a series of autobiographical chapters from what is tentatively called "Scenes from a Life" and some not very edifying fiction. "
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Top reviews
luigi pompili
5.0 out of 5 stars To be read...Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2012
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My mother language is not English and I am asking myself if it is a good idea to try a review of "Jesus and Muhammad" in a not
perfectly mastered language.Anyway,I'll try to summarize my impressions as follows:
- the work of prof.Peters is among the clearer,and probably the clearest, of my readings in religions history;
- the "portrait" of the Historical Jesus is fascinating: I read two or three written work on the matter,but with
a less efficient synthesis,in my modest view;
-I was happy to learn many aspects of Muslim Religion that I still ignored;
-prof.Peters'work has the advantage of offering the reader the possibility of following the two "tracks" separately,reading
first the intellectually preferred one and then the other one.But this approach has strong limits : the overall historical
view will be lost.I would suggest to read the entire work and then to reconsider the "preferred" chapters or sections.
Forgive my crude English.
_
9 people found this helpful
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Graeme Duncan
2.0 out of 5 stars Get ready to clench your teethReviewed in the United States on May 13, 2012
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I would typify myself as an eclectic liberal Christian who has explored practices in many faith traditions but this book I had to abandon as it made me grind my teeth at times. The structure of the book is fine and there are interesting points to learn in the parallels. My issue is with the 'tone', which is not one of respect, or perhaps even of 'tolerance' at times. Perhaps the author intends to challenge, which can be an important literary device, but as I seek a deepening of my faith I did not feel I was growing by wading through this diatribe. It may suit some who seek and have time for that however.
One person found this helpful
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waltermichel
1.0 out of 5 stars The men were killed accept for those who were useful for workReviewed in the United States on September 8, 2015
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To compare the times and situations is not comparing Jesus and Muhammad. It is impossible to compare the two. The one was a war lord, had 13 wives and innumerable slave women for sexual pleasure, decapitated thousands of men, conquered one area after another, was given a fifth of the loot of every raid, including men and women. The men were killed accept for those who were useful for work, the women all became slaves, a fifth were given to M. He sold them, gave them to friends and kept some for himself. Once an Ethiopian woman was captured he took her for himself and favored her with special living quarters. His women were furious. He married Aishah when she was about 6 (?), but refrained from intercourse with her until was 11 (?) .... and Jesus was totally different ...
4 people found this helpful
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Luke E. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Curious about the two most influential men ever?Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2018
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Very good. This book gives insight into a wide array of things. Now when people talk about religion, I can actually not talk out of my ass!!! Yay!!!
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Basel H
5.0 out of 5 stars ExcellentReviewed in the United States on June 14, 2014
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Excellent book. Well presented, well researched. I have read the author's other book"The Children Of Abraham" and also found that book engrossing. Professor Peters has the ability to tackle the delicate subject of religion without offending believers.
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M. O. Barber
1.0 out of 5 stars ... to read this for a Theology class and she hated it.Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2016
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My college freshman daughter had to read this for a Theology class and she hated it.
One person found this helpful
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Julie D.
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique EnlightenmentReviewed in the United States on October 18, 2011
F. E. Peters examines and compares the historical profiles of Jesus and Muhammed to show us, from a historian's viewpoint, what we do and do not know about them. I actually am not exactly sure why the author wrote the book because he does not really draw any conclusions. However, I'm ok with that, as will be revealed at the end of this review.
What Peters does is directly compare pieces of Jesus' and Muhammad's lives and ministries. The reader learns what historical context Jesus was born into and then the context for Muhammad, the infancy narratives for Jesus and then Muhammad, the words of Jesus and then Muhammad, and so forth. In each case, Peters considered sources, the historian's point of view, and the believer's point of view.
The book jacket says that Peters finds surprising similarities between Jesus and Muhammad. I was disinterested in "surprising similarities" and more interested in learning facts. Specifically, I was interested in learning about Muhammad from an unbiased source, if such a thing exists.
I already am familiar, with Jesus' life and identity from both a secular and Catholic point of view. Part of the test for Peters, naturally, was to see how his presentation of Jesus matched my own expectations. Since I knew next to nothing about Muhammad, I couldn't judge the truth of what I was being told other than to judge the truth of what Peters said about Christ. If he proved trustworthy there, then I felt he'd be equally trustworthy on Muhammad's behalf.
I was impressed because the author was dispassionate in delineating history versus belief, while always being quite respectful of believers. This is not a quality we often see in historians speaking about religion. Usually they are rooting for one side or another. I commend Peters for doing such a clear job of research and writing.
The painstakingly objective way he wrote about what Christians believe about Christ, led me to believe that I was being allowed as unbiased a look as I have ever been shown of Muhammad and how his followers have developed his words into the Quran and the Sira. And that was precisely what I was after. Highly recommended for those who would like similar enlightenment.
11 people found this helpful
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ghada mohamad
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2017
An excellent and scholarly book rooted in facts and evidence and delivers critical view on the lives of two great historical figures.
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Aly
4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing bookReviewed in Canada on December 11, 2019
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I strongly recommend this book to all people
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