How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims. The Islamic Jesus reveals startling new truths about Islam in the context of the first Muslims and the early origins of Christianity. Muslims and the first Christians--the Jewish followers of Jesus--saw Jesus as not divine but rather as a prophet and human Messiah and that salvation comes from faith and good works, not merely as faith, as Christians would later emphasize. What Akyol seeks to reveal are how these core beliefs of Jewish Christianity, which got lost in history as a heresy, emerged in a new religion born in 7th Arabia: Islam.
Akyol exposes this extraordinary historical connection between Judaism, Jewish Christianity and Islam--a major mystery unexplored by academia. From Jesus' Jewish followers to the Nazarenes and Ebionites to the Qu'ran's stories of Mary and Jesus, The Islamic Jesus will reveal links between religions that seem so contrary today. It will also call on Muslims to discover their own Jesus, at a time when they are troubled by their own Pharisees and Zealots.
"A welcome expansion of the fragile territory known as common ground." --The New York Times
Mustafa Akyol is the kind of public intellectual our fractured world needs. He is anchored in a specific tradition but also capable of engaging others with nuance, humility, and good will. In this timely and important book, Akyol provides an insightful account of an Islamic Jesus and a wonderful resource for anyone interested in Abrahamic dialogue. --John Barton, PhD, Director of the Center for Faith and Learning, Pepperdine University
Interfaith dialogue is undoubtedly an admirable way of advancing tolerance and understanding. But removing one's 'military boots' and stepping into the proverbial shoes of another religious conviction in order to ask 'what can Jesus teach Muslims today?' is the preferred way of this book, which I applaud unequivocally. Akyol's proposition to discern the Islamic Jesus through the early apocryphal literature uncannily echoes the Orthodox Church's priority to illuminate the Gospel Jesus through the eastern liturgical tradition. --Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis, Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and author of Bartholomew: Apostle and Visionary |
