The Quran describes a remarkable encounter in which a heavenly being appears to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus. Traditionally, Muslims identify this being as the angel Gabriel. But a closer reading of the Quran reveals an important distinction: the Quran never explicitly identifies the being who appeared to Mary as an angel. Instead, … Continue reading Was It an Angel or a Spirit That Appeared to Mary? What the Quran Actually Says
Can Something Pagan Become Sacred? The Bible’s Answer to a Common Argument Against Islam
One of the recurring accusations some Christian apologists level against Islam is that it has pagan origins. The Kaaba was a sanctuary used by pagan Arabs. The pilgrimage to Mecca existed before Muhammad. The circumambulation of the Kaaba and other pilgrimage rituals were already practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia. Therefore, the argument goes, Islam must be … Continue reading Can Something Pagan Become Sacred? The Bible’s Answer to a Common Argument Against Islam
The Missing Science: Why Hadith Was Authenticated and the Torah and Gospel Were Not
Every religious community has to settle what counts as authority. For Muslims the first answer is the Quran, the scripture revealed through Muhammad. Sunni Islam adds a second source: hadith, the reports of what Muhammad said and did, collected and written down generations after his death. This article traces how that second source rose until … Continue reading The Missing Science: Why Hadith Was Authenticated and the Torah and Gospel Were Not
The Talmudic Dilemma That Isn’t
A new objection to the Quran has been making the rounds. Its authors call it the Talmudic Dilemma, and it is built on the frame of an older argument they named the Islamic Dilemma. The original ran like this: the Quran confirms the previous scriptures, yet the Quran contradicts them, so the Quran must be … Continue reading The Talmudic Dilemma That Isn’t
The Prophet as Witness: How European Painters Enlisted Muhammad in Defense of the Immaculate Conception
The doctrine and the problem The Immaculate Conception is the Catholic teaching that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her existence. It is often confused with the Virgin Birth, which concerns Jesus. The Immaculate Conception concerns Mary herself, and it was one of the most contested questions in medieval theology. … Continue reading The Prophet as Witness: How European Painters Enlisted Muhammad in Defense of the Immaculate Conception
The Bible & Slavery
The Bible contains a good deal of law about slavery, and most readers have never seen it, because it sits in the legal sections of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy rather than in the stories people know. A more useful question than whether the Bible "supports" slavery is what the texts actually do: describe it as … Continue reading The Bible & Slavery
The Quran Is a Genre of Its Own
Every reader approaches a new text with a question, usually unspoken: What kind of thing is this? Genre is the first act of interpretation. We read a legal code differently from a love poem, a chronicle differently from a prophecy. Misjudge the genre and everything downstream goes wrong. Readers coming to the Quran from the … Continue reading The Quran Is a Genre of Its Own
The Moral Problems of Deuteronomy: A Reference Guide
Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah, the Pentateuch traditionally attributed to Moses. It is presented as a series of farewell speeches delivered on the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan, as Israel prepares to enter Canaan after forty years in the wilderness. Moses recounts the journey so far, restates the law given … Continue reading The Moral Problems of Deuteronomy: A Reference Guide
Fishermen’s Greek: The Literary Blemish at the Heart of Early Christianity
Imagine picking up a book that presents itself as the inspired word of God and finding it written in "Ebonics." He was teachin' the folk down by the water, and he tell 'em, "Don't be worryin' 'bout tomorrow." For a reader raised to equate seriousness with "proper" English, the instinct is to flinch before the … Continue reading Fishermen’s Greek: The Literary Blemish at the Heart of Early Christianity
Is Arabic an Essential Attribute of the Quran?
Abstract The Quran repeatedly calls itself an "Arabic Quran," but it also describes that Arabic as something done: revealed (anzala), inspired (awḥā), made easy (yassara), articulated (faṣṣala), and rendered (jaʿala). This article asks if Arabic is an essential attribute of the Quran, or if the Quran distinguishes between itself as it exists with God and … Continue reading Is Arabic an Essential Attribute of the Quran?
