Download New York University JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Please note: the attached syllabus is from Spring '06. The meeting dates
will be changed for Spring '07 but the content will be similar.
Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
Religious Studies Program
New York University
F. E. Peters
726 Broadway, Suite 554/
Email: [email protected]
M & W 11-12:15
Cantor 101
JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM
[V65.0025/77.0800/V78.0160/V90.0102]
Syllabus of Meetings and Assignments
The following syllabus will also be found in its official form on the
“Blackboard” version of the class (available to registered students), along
much required and supplementary material for the course. Log onto your
NYU Home account and you will find it there. Problems getting on? Try
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The Blackboard also includes full Powerpoint presentations, notes and
illustrations, for the material covered in each class. It is strongly
recommended that you print out the Powerpoint material for each meeting
and to bring it to class. Go to “File”/”Print”, scroll down to “Handouts” and
then choose “3” to a page for a handy format for note-taking.
["Read" refers to assignments to be done before the class in question.]
1. [W. 18 Jan.] THE CHILDREN 0F ABRAHAM: SIBLINGS AT LOVE AND WAR
The relationship of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; their conflicts and
affinities; the "People of the Book" and the cult of the one True God; power,
acceptance and rejection; tolerance and monotheism; seeing the others as the
others see themselves; a note on calendars.
Read: “Children,” Introduction; On Blackboard: “A Fractious Family”
2. [M. 23 Jan.] THE COVENANT.
The earliest history of humankind; the uses of Adam and Eve; The promises
made to Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah): a people and a land; Eretz Israel;
Christian and Muslim understanding of the “promise”; the “binding of Isaac”
(aqeda); the Christian and Muslim attachment to Abraham; Ishmael and Hagar,
their future in Judaism and Islam; Christians and Muslims Jacob becomes "Israel";
election and the "Children of Israel".
Read: "Texts" Vol. I, Chap. 1, Nos. 1-5, 8-23.
3. [W . 25 Jan.] THE CHOSEN PEOPLE FROM JACOB TO THE EXILE.
Israelite bondage and release in Egypt; the re-reading of the Exodus (Exodus
and Hijra); the career of Moses; the appointment of Aaron; exodus and hijra; the
conquest of Canaan; "the land is the Lord's"; the petition for a kingdom; the
“anointing”; David takes Jerusalem; the Ark of the Covenant installed; Solomon’s
temple; Solomon in the Bible and the Quran; the sins of Israel; the reforms of
Josiah.
Read: “Children,” pp. 7-11;"Texts" Vol. I, Chap. 1, Nos. 24-28, 31-42.
4. [M. 30 Jan.] FROM ISRAELITE TO JEW
Destruction and exile; the Israelites in Babylon; prophetic voices; Ezra,
Nehemiah and the return; the cult of the Lord restored; the renewal of the
Mosaic law; the prophets of the restoration; a new covenant; Second Temple
Judaism; "covenantal nomism" as the religion of Israel; the "scribal culture" of
Israel.
Read: “Children,” pp. 11-20; "Texts" Vol. I, Chap. 2, Nos. 1-10.
5. [W. 1 Feb.] JEW, GREEK AND ROMAN
The arrival and impact of Hellenism in the Diaspora and Eretz Israel; the
essence of Hellenism as ideology and culture; Judaism in the Diaspora: Philo;
Antiochus' program and the Maccabean revolt: a Jewish kingdom; Jewish parties
and sects: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes; divine wisdom and others things;
apocalyptic and messianic currents in Judaism; the rabbis discuss the messiah.
Read: "Texts" Vol. I, Chap. 2, Nos. 12-15, 21-25.
6. [M. 6 Feb. ] THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS
What are the Gospels? Jesus, the man and his teachings; cures and miracles:
controversies with the Pharisees; arrest, trial and execution; the empty tomb: the
effect of the resurrection : Messiah and Son of God.; the preaching of the risen
Christ.
Read: “Children,” pp. 21-31; "Texts" Vol. 1, Chap. 3, Nos. 1-33.
7. [W. 8 Feb.] THE BEGINNINGS OF A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY.
The earliest Christian community in Jerusalem; awaiting the End; the
"Hellenists"; the conversion of Paul; Peter, James and the Gentile issue; the
separation of Jews and Christians; the destruction of the Temple: Jewish and
Christian reactions.
Read: "Texts" Vol.1, Chap. 3, Nos. 34-36, 41-45, 48-53, 56-57.
8. [M. 13 Feb. ] MUHAMMAD THE PROPHET OF GOD.
Mecca before Islam; the Quraysh; Muhammad and his call; the “Night
Journey” and “Ascension”; the warning message at Mecca; the Hijra ("migration")
to Medina; military and political successes; the Muslim community; the life and
death of the Prophet.
Read: “Children,” pp. 31-41; "Texts" Vol. 1, Chap. 4: 1-44.
9. [W. 15 Feb. ] THE WORDS OF GOD: THE QURAN.
The Muslim theory of revelation; the occasions of revelation; abrogation and
interpolation: the “Satanic verses”; the religious content of Islam as revealed in
the Quran; the "Pillars of Islam."
Read: "Texts" Vol. II, Chap. 1, Nos. 27-40.
10. [W. 23 Feb. ] THE SCRIPTURES: BIBLE, NEW TESTAMENT AND QURAN
Revelation: the Word, the Text, the Meaning; What is the Bible, its author(s)
and contents; targum and translation; canon and apocrypha; Gospels and New
Testament; the Christian view of the "Old Testament"; God and Muhammad and
the Quran; the collection and codification of the Quran; charges of tampering.
Read: "Texts" Vol. 2, Chap. 1: 1-26, 40, 44-45; Chap. 6: 11-19.
11. [M. 27 Feb. ] UNDERSTANDING THE WORD OF GOD
How the read Scripture; the midrashic method, halakhic and haggadic; Philo
and Paul on literal and allegorical exegesis; the method of the rabbis; how the
Christians read the Scriptures; the New Testament and the Old; explaining away
the Torah; how the Muslims read the Quran; where did they get their information?
The clear and the ambiguous in the Quran; outer and inner meanings.
Read: “Children,” pp. 85-92; "Texts" Vol. 2, Chap. 2: Nos. 1, 5, 8-9,
13, 14, 16, 18, 21-23, 25, 28, 30, 33, 35, 37-38.
12. [W. 1 March ] SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION: FROM TORAH TO MISHNA
The theory of the dual Torah; the development of the oral tradition;
Pharisees and Sadducees; the Mishna; the two Talmuds; the Karaites and the
Rabbanites.
Read: "Texts" Vol. 2, Cap. 3, Nos. 1-5, 8-9, 11, 13-14.
Midterm Take-Home Exams distributed. The essays are due in my office by the
end of the class period, 12:15 PM (Rm. 565 @ 726 Broadway—same bldg as Health
Services) on last class day before Spring break. Since there is a week to complete this, there
will be no extensions, no postponements. If the exams are not there, a grade of “D” will be,
as they say, awarded.
13. [M. 6 March] SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION: FROM APOSTOLIC TRADITION
TO PROPHETIC TRADITIONS.
Orthodoxy and heresy in early Christianity; How do we know what’s true: the
notion of teaching authority in Christianity: the "apostolic tradition": what is a
bishop? The "custom of the Prophet" as a regulatory norm in Islam; the collection,
sorting and use of hadîth; Scripture and tradition
Read: “Children,” pp. 92-102; Chap. 5; "Texts" Vol. 2, Chap. 3, 21-26.
14. [W. 8 March] MIDTERM EXAMINATIONS DUE IN OFFICE BEFORE 5 PM
[March 13-17: Spring Break]
15. [M. 20 March] A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS
Holiness and the Covenant; defining the Jew: the Pharisaic program;
conversion and excommunication; attempts at a creed; the transition to a new
Covenant; the separation of Jews and Christians; baptism; the Christian teaching
on sin; who' s in and who's out: dogma and heresy; excommunication.
Read: "Texts" Vol. 2, Chap. 6: 1-24.16.
16. [M. 22 March ] COMMUNITY AND AUTHORITY
What constitutes the community: the Benei Israel, the Church and the Umma;
a Jewish kingdom and after; kings, priests and rabbis: who rules the Jews? Zion
and Zionisms; the churches and the Church; the emergence of Christian bishops,
"elders" and priests; the Christian hierarchy; the conciliar system; the question of
the bishop of Rome.
Read: “Children,” pp. 41-66; "Texts" Vol. 1, Chap. 6: 2, 4, 6, 8-9, 14, 15-17, 19-21, 23-24,
28.
17. [M. 27 March] CHURCH AND STATE: BISHOPS AND EMPERORS
Christian persecutions; the conversion of Constantine and its effects; the
emperor as a factor in Church governance; the claims of the bishop of Rome; the
"keys of the kingdom"; God and Caesar; the theory of the two swords; the Great
Schism in the Christian Community
Read: "Texts" Vol. 1, Chap. 7, Nos. 1-13.
18. [W. 29 March] THE CHURCH AS THE STATE: THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY.
The umma as church and state; the umma as empire: jihâd and the Dâr alIslam; dhimma and dhimmis; Caliph and Imam: the succession to Muhammad and
the issue of leadership in early Islam: the rise of the "party of Ali; " the line of
the Imams; the occultation of the Imam; and the Shi‘ite theory of governance;
Sunni and Shi‘ite Islam: ideology and objectives; the Sultanate.
Read: "Texts" Vol. 1, Chap. 7, Nos. 14-30.
19. [M. 3 April] THE LAW AND ITS OBSERVANCE.
Moses the lawgiver; the precepts of the Law and how they worked;
codification of the Law; the types and purposes of the Law; Jesus and Paul on the
Law.
Read: “Children,” pp. 67-84; "Texts" Vol. 2, Chap. 4: 1-2, 7-9, 11-13, 15-16. 20-24,
26-28, 31-33.
20. [W. 5 April] CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC LAW.
Paul and the beginnings of a Christian society; the bishop as moral teacher;
the canons of the Church Councils; crimes and their penalties in Torah the Quran;
the sources of Islamic law: Quran, Sunna, consensus and "personal effort";
abrogation; lawyers, schools (yeshivas, madrasas) and judges (qadis) in Judaism,
Christianity and Islam; muftis and fatwas, waqf.
Read: "Texts" Vol. 2, Chap. 5: 1-2, 8-20, 21-23.
21. [M. 10 Apr.] GOD’S COMMANDMENTS AND HUMAN MORALITY
Ethical and moral systems; morality and law; natural law; sin and its atonement
in the Bible; Jesus’ ethical teaching and his redemptive death; the sacramental
system; Original Sin; the sacrament called Penance: confession and absolution;
penances and penitentials; Purgatory; indulgence; Muslim morality; Muhammad as a
moral paradigm; the moral spectrum; judgment; free will and predestination.
Read: The reading assignment is on the Blackboard under this meeting.
22. [W. 12 Apr.] DIVINE WORSHIP.
God's Torah commands for His worship: the Tent of the Presence and the
Temple of the Lord; the Temple liturgy; the Holy Days; the rise and evolution of
the synagogue service; the synagogue liturgy; Jesus' "Last Supper" and the
Christian Eucharist; the Christian revision of Temple Judaism; the Christian
church as a temple; early Christian worship; the evolution of the Eucharistic
liturgy; Muslim views on worship: prayer and the mosque; the Hajj liturgy at
Mecca; the cult of the saints.
Read: “Children,” pp. 103-115; "Texts" Vol. 3, Chap. 1: 1-6, 9-11, 18, 25-34; Chap. 2:
1-2, 15-17, 20, 23-25.
23. [M. 17 Apr.] THINKING ABOUT GOD.
Hellenism's favorite child: theology; how the Greeks thought about God; Philo;
Saadya: the problem of reason and revelation; the early Christians confront
Hellenism; the debate begins: Arius, the Trinity and the Council of Nicea; theology
and dogma; Jewish and Islamic theology.
Read: “Children,” 138-166; "Texts" Vol. 3, Chap. 5: 1-4, 7, 10-12, 14-17, 21-24, 2628, 31, 36
24. [W. 19 Apr. ]. FROM DESERT SAINTS TO MUSLIM SUFIS
Asceticism; the origins of the movement in Christianity; from heremitical to
the monastic life; the form of the monastic life: vows and rules; the Christian
religious orders: Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits; the beginnings of Sufism;
Sufi orders and convents.
Read: “Children,” 116-137; "Texts" Vol. 3, Chap. 3: 1, 4-10, 13-14, 20, 21-23, 25-26,
30-31
25. [M.24 Apr.] LEAPING FROM THE DARK INTO THE LIGHT: MYSTICISM.
What is Mysticism? From Asceticism to Mysticism; Early Jewish Mysticism:
Merkaba and Heykaloth; the Stages in the Mystical Life; The Mystical Experience
in Christianity and Islam; the dhikr; Kabbala and Hasidism
Read: "Texts" Vol. 3, Chap. 4: 1-4, 8-9, 10-13, 16, 19, 21-22, 24-25, 27-28.
Final Take-Home Exams distributed. The essays are due in my office by 12:15
(Rm. 565 @ 726 Broadway—same bldg as Health Services) on last class day (May 1st.).
Since there is a week to complete this, there will be no extensions, no postponements. If the
exam is not there, a grade of “F” will be, as they say, awarded.
26. [W. 26 Apr.] THE LAST THINGS
The afterlife in the Bible; where did the Afterlife come from? the
resurrection of the body; Gehenna/Hell; Paradise/Heaven; Second Comings; the
Millennium; the Eschaton in Islam.
Read: "Texts" Vol. 3, Chap. 6 (Complete)
27. [M. 1 May] The Real Eschaton: The Final Exam,
due in my office (Rm 556 @ 726 Broadway before 12:15 PM.
Course Readings
Required: [And available at the Campus Bookstore]
“Texts” = F. E. Peters, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The
Classical Texts and Their Interpretation, 3 volumes. Princeton
University Press paperback. [A collection of primary texts]
F.E. Peters, The Children of Abraham. Revised edition. Princeton,
2004.
Optional [And also available at the Campus Bookstore]
F. E. Peters, The Monotheists. Jews, Christians and Muslims in
Conflict and Competition. 2 volumes, attractively boxed. Princeton
University Press, 2003.
Suggested (for filling in background):
Michael A. Fishbane, Judaism. Harper & Row RD 497
Sandra A. Frankiel, Christianity. Harper & Row RD 498
F. E. Peters, Islam. A Guide for Jews and Christians. Princeton
University Press
Michael Cook, The Koran. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford
paperback)