audiobook To establish within the Smithsonian Institution the National Museum of African American History and Culture; and for other purposes. by From BiblioGov in History

Description

When Reza Aslan's bestseller Zealot came out in 2013; there was criticism that he hadn't addressed his Muslim faith while writing the origin story of Christianity. In fact; Ross Douthat of The New York Times wrote that "if Aslan had actually written in defense of the Islamic view of Jesus; that would have been something provocative and new."Mustafa Akyol's The Islamic Jesus is that book -- and even much more. For The Islamic Jesus not only tells the story of Jesus; and his mother Mary; as narrated in the Qur'an. It also explores how this Islamic picture of the Nazarene resonates with pre-existing Christian sources; especially Apocrypha. In particular; it unveils the fascinating similarity between Islam and "Jewish Christianity;" a strain in the early church that got branded as a heresy. Jewish Christians were observant Jews who honored Jesus as a human -- not divine -- Messiah; and sought salvation by faith and works; not "by faith alone." Akyol shows how their peculiar creed vanished in history after the first few Christian centuries; but only to be reborn in 7th century Arabia by a new prophet named Muhammad. This provokes puzzling questions about the origins of Islam; and the Abrahamic genealogy. The Islamic Jesus also offers an "Islamic Christology;" and probes into Muslim beliefs on the "Second Coming." Perhaps most provokingly; it even contemplates; "What Jesus can teach Muslims today" -- at a time; Akyol argues; when Muslims are haunted by their own Herods; Pharisees and Zealots.