โA welcome expansion of the fragile territory known as common ground.โ โThe New York TimesWhen Reza Aslanโs bestseller Zealot came out in 2013, there was criticism that he hadnโt addressed his Muslim faith while writing the origin story of Christianity. In fact, Ross Douthat of The New York Times wrote that โif Aslan had actually written in defense of the Islamic view of Jesus, that would have been somethin ...Full description
โA welcome expansion of the fragile territory known as common ground.โ โThe New York TimesWhen Reza Aslanโs bestseller Zealot came out in 2013, there was criticism that he hadnโt addressed his Muslim faith while writing the origin story of Christianity. In fact, Ross Douthat of The New York Times wrote that โif Aslan had actually written in defense of the Islamic view of Jesus, that would have been something provocative and new.โMustafa Akyolโs The Islamic Jesus is that book.The Islamic Jesus reveals startling new truths about Islam in the context of the first Muslims and the early origins of Christianity. Muslims and the first Christiansโthe Jewish followers of Jesusโsaw Jesus as not divine but rather as a prophet and human Messiah and that salvation comes from faith and good works, not merely as faith, as Christians would later emphasize. What Akyol seeks to reveal are how these core beliefs of Jewish Christianity, which got lost in history as a heresy, emerged in a new religion born in 7th Arabia: Islam.Akyol exposes this extraordinary historical connection between Judaism, Jewish Christianity and Islamโa major mystery unexplored by academia. From Jesusโ Jewish followers to the Nazarenes and Ebionites to the Quโranโs stories of Mary and Jesus, The Islamic Jesus will reveal links between religions that seem so contrary today. It will also call on Muslims to discover their own Jesus, at a time when they are troubled by their own Pharisees and Zealots.