John of Damascus and Islam : Christian heresiology and the intellectual background to earliest Christian-Muslim relations /
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How did Islam come to be considered a Christian heresy? In this book, Peter Schadler outlines the intellectual background of the Christian Near East that led John, a Christian serving in the court of the caliph in Damascus, to categorize Islam as a heresy. Schadler shows that different uses of the term heresy persisted among Christians, and then demonstrates that John's assessment of the beliefs and practices of Muslims has been mistakenly dismissed on assumptions he was highly biased. The practices and beliefs John ascribes to Islam have analogues in the Islamic tradition, proving that John may well represent an accurate picture of Islam as he knew it in the seventh and eighth centuries in Syria and Palestine.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004356054 :
1570-7350 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Johannine sectarianism in perspective : a sociological, historical, and comparative analysis of temple and social relationships in the Gospel of John, Philo, and Qumran /
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The central aim of the investigation is to evaluate the claim that the Gospel of John was a product of a 'sectarian' milieu. Fuglseth is using methods primarily derived from sociology and the study of new religious movements today. He discusses in particular the 'cult'-model as an alternative to 'sect,' and compares the Johannine texts with texts from two contemporary milieus: Philo and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The thesis is embedded in a comprehensive survey of research and discussions of methods and of the existence of a Johannine community. There are still serious debates going on about the existence and nature of the Johannine group, its 'Jewish' roots and settings, the attitude to the 'Jews' and the 'synagogue', and the two levels of meanings in the Johannine text according to Martyn and Brown. In this situation Fuglseth's investigation is of great current interest and gives new answers to central questions in the Johannine research.
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1 online resource (xiv, 448 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [379]-409) and indexes. :
9789047415626 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Identity matters : John, the Jews and Jewishness /
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This book challenges current scholarly consensus concerning John's references to the Jews in two ways. First, the author suggests that John's portrayal of the Jews cannot be understood as a response to the violent policy of John's opponents. Second, the author claims that John's portrayal of Jewishness is much more ambivalent than is often claimed today. The first part of the book offers a detailed criticism on the so called two-level reading strategy which claims that John's references to the Jews emerge from the conflict with rabbinic Judaism. The second part examines in detail John's relationship to some basic markers of Jewishness. The book contributes to the ongoing discussion of anti-Judaism in John and efforts to understand John's historical setting.
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1 online resource (x, 291 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p.[243] - 274) and indexes. :
9789047407256 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.