Islam and the Origins of the Koran
Illustration by Adam Niklewicz
What Is the Koran? (from The Atlantic
January, 1999 by Toby Lester)
Researchers with a variety of academic and theological interests are proposing
controversial theories about the Koran and Islamic history, and are striving to
reinterpret Islam for the modern world. This is, as one scholar puts it, a "sensitive
business"
Radical New Views of Islam and the Origins of the Koran
(from The New York Times, March 2, 2002 By Alexander Stille)
A handful of experts have been quietly investigating the origins of the Koran, offering
radically new theories about the text's meaning and the rise of Islam.
Book
Review from Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies of the breakthrough study of
Christoph Luxenberg (ps.) Die syro-aramaeische Lesart des Koran; Ein
Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Qur’ansprache = [The
Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution for Decoding the Language of the Koran].
"Not in the history of commentary on the Qur’an has a work like this been
produced. Similar works can only be found in the body of text-critical scholarship on the
Bible.... If biblical scholarship is any indication, the future of Qur’anic studies
is more or less decided by this work."
"I'm
Right, You're Wrong, Go To Hell"-- Religions and the meeting of civilization
(from The Atlantic Online, May 2003 by Bernard Lewis)
"Today we in the West are engaged in what we see as a war against terrorism, and what
the terrorists present as a war against unbelief. Some on both sides see this struggle as
one between civilizations or, as others would put it, between religions. If they are
right, and there is much to support their view, then the clash between these two
religiously defined civilizations results not only from their differences but also from
their resemblances—and in these there may even be some hope for better future
understanding."
Non-Orthodox Christianity
The
Next Christianity (from The Atlantic Online, October 2002 by Philip
Jenkins)
"We stand at a historical turning point, the author argues—one that is as
epochal for the Christian world as the original Reformation. Around the globe Christianity
is growing and mutating in ways that observers in the West tend not to see. Tumultuous
conflicts within Christianity will leave a mark deeper than Islam's on the century
ahead."
Christianity's New Center (from Atlantic Unbound, September 2002 by Katie Bacon) In this interview Philip Jenkins, a Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University and the author of "The Next Christianity" in the October Atlantic, argues that most Americans and Europeans are blind to Christianity's real future.
Confucianism
"Confucius
and the Scholars" (from the April 1999 issue of The Atlantic)
Did the Chinese sage really exist? If so, did he have much to do with the religious and
ethical system that bears his name? Could Confucianism have been invented by Jesuit
missionaries? By Charlotte Allen
This page was last edited on May 11, 2003