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Islam and Historical Criticism

by Joshua Alexander, RC Chapter Director, Shepherd University 

If one is not a pluralist he/she may be inclined to compare/contrast religions and evaluate them. A pluralist might ask "why?" while others ask, "by what criteria?" Of course, there are various approaches each with there respective standards, one of which is known as the ethical approach. 

The ethical approach is a common and quite justified approach that focuses on the character of Muhammad and the effects Islam has had throughout history, which we see so clearly in many Muslim nations today. If Muhammad were really the prophet of God, and Islam the true religion, then Muhammad’s life should reflect this and Islam should have a just, ethical system that promotes human flourishing.

On Divine Revelation

A Reasonable Criteria

  • 30 September 2015
  • Author: Scott Cherry
  • Number of views: 5831
  • 0 Comments
I believe in divine revelation, but I do not accept every sacred book that claims to be such, mainly because they are rationally exclusive.  But I don’t just dismiss them out-of-hand, blindly, I reject them for specific reasons.  Even though they claim to be divine revelation, I put them all through the same grid of reason which is necessary to identify something as revelation. 

What Every Muslim Needs to Know About How We Got the New Testament (Injeel), part 1

Has the Bible Been Corrupted Over Time?

What Every Muslim Needs to Know About How We Got the New Testament (Injeel), part 1

Muslims believe that the Bible has been corrupted and redacted by later editors. This claim is an old one and many scholars who have held this view have had to fall on their swords in the past. The fact is that modern scholarship can objectively demonstrate that:

  • We can be confident that the Greek New Testament has not changed from what was penned by the original authors.
  • We can be assured that the contemporaries of the original authors received the plurality of the New Testament as the inspired word of God.
  • History demonstrates that the earliest Christians held to exactly 4 gospels that we can identify as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
  • The process of canonization and the recognition of which books were inspired occurred extremely early.

External and Internal Evidence for the Preservation of the New Testament

What Every Muslim Needs to Know About How We Got the New Testament (Injeel), part 4

External and Internal Evidence for the Preservation of the New Testament
The internal evidence of the NT shows an immediate expectation and acceptance of the writings of the apostles. From the Church Fathers, we can see that the sub-corpus of the 4 gospels and the book of Acts were accepted extremely early and exclusively. The letters of Paul were copied, transmitted, and read across the entire population of Christians including his personal letters and the sub-corpus of Paul’s 13 letters were assembled together. Even heretical and gnostic writings confirm the early existence of the gospels in that it is the gospels that they mimic and never the other way around.

The Origin of Meekness

Humans value humility in each other so what should we expect from God?

  Have you ever wondered why people value humility?

The Qur'an speaks of humility. In surah 3:159 Muhammed is praised for his humility by dealing gently with those who could have been in rebellion to him.

 

"And by the Mercy of Allah, you dealt with them gently. And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from you." [Al Imran 3:159]

Where does this value come from? If Muhammed is praised as meek then shouldn't we expect this to be an attribute of God's? How does the Muslim God demonstrate meekness?

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