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OK, thanks.However, the good news is that I can suggest a website where you can learn more on the literary form and style of the Qur’an.
OK, thanks.However, the good news is that I can suggest a website where you can learn more on the literary form and style of the Qur’an.
I think the claim that the Bible is worthless is an overstatement. And, following that thought up…there is definitely a minority tradition within Islam that accepts that Jesus was executed by crucifixion, more or less as recounted in the various Gospels. Al-Razi and ibn’Sina would be the most prominent examples I can think of, but it is also present in certain strands of Shia Islam even into the present.Does the Koran not say that Jesus mearely appeared to be crucified, while all four Gospels, including the synoptics, say he was crucified?
We are thus left with three propositions: The Bible is worthless, The bible is corrupt, or the Koran is worthless.
Now you clearly deny those last two so we are left with the argument that the bible is worthless.
So we have another problem, the Koran is clear that Christians are “People of the Book”, and makes mention that they hold a revelation from the “prophet” Jesus.
That’s all well and good, but as we’ve just seen from what you argued, the Christians don’t actually hold a revelation from Jesus, they hold a bunch of books with made up stuff in them.
Therefore, by your own argument the koran is in error. Now as a Muslim you most certainly can’t hold this belief, so I would ask that if you want to continue on this line, show me exactly where my syllogism erronous.
I’m a bit confused on one thing: earlier you said that corruption was not an allegation against the Bible by Islam, which (although contradictory with the majority of Muslim apologetics and what Mohammad’s companions argued) seems to suggest that the Bible was not corrupted and is, as we hold it today, fairly trustworthy. Here it seems to now be suggested that there was some corruption - what I mean is the question of whether or not the Gospel of John constructs an image of a “historical Jesus.” That seems to then contradict your next point that there is no evidence of any kind of perversion of Christ’s revelation. Especially in your next point (which I’ll get to in a moment) where you argue on whether or not John’s gospel is reliable. If John’s gospel is not reliable, then some corruption did take place. That is the inevitable conclusion.Well, in answering this question I can’t really claim to be representing anyone in the Muslim community but me…
But the question of corruption and the question of the reliability of, for instance, the Gospel of John for constructing an image of the historical Jesus, are, to my mind two entirely separate questions.
When Muslims charge that the various texts of the Bible have been corrupted they usually mean that there was some original pure text(s) that contain the revelation of Jesus that has, since, been perverted into the texts that we know. As many people have related, there seems to be no evidence of that. Textual variations are minor and not terribly significant, and anyone can take a look and see what kinds of textual variations we are aware of.
If these men were or are “devout” Christians, then one has to wonder if “devout” Christians would question whether or not Christ identified Himself as God or if His apostles could be trusted in their accounts. One might as well call a person who denies that Mohammad ever claimed to be a prophet as a “devout” Muslim. Furthermore, if we are to speak of scholars who denounce the reliability of John or whether or not Christ said what we believe He said, what then of scholars who say the exact opposite? Such as Bruce Metzger (who helped edit the UBS Greek NT), Daniel Wallace (who is a leading NT Greek scholar of this day), James White (who has debated on the manuscripts against Muslims), Richard Bauckham, Norman Geisler, and many more.But, is the Gospel of John a reliable source for constructing an image of the historical Jesus … has anyone thought so since before Albert Schweitzer? Even Meier’s Marginal Jew, a contemporary Catholic scholar whose reconstruction of Jesus is thought of as leaning toward a more traditional portrayal, cautions against relying heavily on John. Or, Raymond Brown, who is generally thought of as a very conservative historian and was also a devout Catholic and one of the preeminent scholars on the Gospel of John, expressed his own doubts that Jesus ever identified himself as God, saying that these kinds of claims arose out of the early Christian community.
I have to admit the constant reference to the appeal of historians makes me wonder if we are supposed to treat the Bible as a history book in the most textbook-like sense. Of course, it was not written as a “history book” - not to mean that the Bible is not historically accurate, but that it is supposed to appeal solely to certain standards. You would never, for example, find John Keegan or Stephen Ambrose writing about historical events the way the writers of 1 and 2 Kings writing about the events of Israel’s history.So it is one thing to say that you have a text, in the form it was originally written, faithfully representing Johannine Christianity; it is another entirely to say that that text provides useful knowledge about Jesus.
The Synoptics remain the best historical source material on Jesus (pbuh), and they still pose all sorts of problems for the historian.
What is the middle ground between worthless and corrupt? If a document is corrupt it means that it is based off something purer which is seen to have value. If the Bible is not to be held to be true, and not to be held to be corrupt, then the only other alternative is that it had not worth in the first place, that it is simply, as I’ve seen a Jewish poster refer to it, as a pious fiction. If you give it value, say that it has some basis, but is otherwise wrong, you are saying it is corrupt. Therefore you need to take a stand, is it corrupt, or did it never have any value in the first place?I think the claim that the Bible is worthless is an overstatement. And, following that thought up…there is definitely a minority tradition within Islam that accepts that Jesus was executed by crucifixion, more or less as recounted in the various Gospels. Al-Razi and ibn’Sina would be the most prominent examples I can think of, but it is also present in certain strands of Shia Islam even into the present.
But I’m not asking for what people have said, I’m asking you to defend what you’ve said. The crucifixion and the resurrection in the gospels are most certainly not allegorical.To get off on a total tangent, it is even the implication of the commentary of an accepted mainstream reader like Muhammad Asad. Asad totally treats the ascension in an allegorical way (see his note on 4.158). Nonetheless he continues to treat 157 as a literal denial of the crucifixion, despite the fact that an allegorical reading of 158 demands an allegorical reading of 4.157 as well [you say he is dead; we say he is exalted — if the exaltation is not mythological claim about Jesus being taken into heaven (and Asad is clear that it is not), then the claim about his death, which is being denied, must not be literal either). This drift in Asad is only reinforced by the fact that he gives the most obvious translation of 5.117 as well: namely, that Jesus “died”. In many ways, Asad’s tendency on this is not surprising, since he is deeply influenced by Razi.
Again, there is no set Islamic dogma on the topic.
Yes, I made mention of the fact that “People of the Book” is a reference to the idea that we hold a revelation from God, I did not mean it to mean an actual book, however the revelation is held within that book. If you toss away the Bible, you toss away the revelation. No matter how you interprete “People of the Book” - and as I said I interprete it to mean the revelation - your argument leaves us without.I would be wary of reading “kitab” too literally as book. It is quite often a figurative term for God’s revelation (I think this warning regarding how to interpret ‘kitab’ is overlooked by way too many ordinary Muslims as well). In fact, the figurative use of kitab is the more likely in a large number of cases. Even the Qur’an is, as the title implies, seen primarily as a Recitation. It does not become a book in the modern sense for some time. Again Asad is a good reference (e.g., his notes on 2.213 emphasize the non-literal reading of kitab). Thus, there are plenty of Muslim scholars who deny that the Injil refers to a physical book, but is instead a shorthand for the teachings of Jesus (pbuh). [This can get combined with the corruption theory I suppose by saying the NT writers incorporate and pervert the original message of Jesus, but this is not how the corruption folks normally argue as far as I can tell.
As I have already mentioned, it offers the best access we have to the historical Jesus. So, I think worthless is an overstatement. And even though one may conclude that, e.g., John or Paul is wrong about Jesus, it does not mean they aren’t interesting thinkers (one can see this, for instance, in the revival of Paul readings that is going in amongst completely secular philosophers).What is the middle ground between worthless and corrupt?
Sure, I agree with that. It is very hard to ascertain what Jesus (pbuh) taught, and when the historians, even Christian historians, do reconstruct a picture for us, he doesn’t seem to look a lot like the Jesus of Christianity. It is clearly the hope of Muslims, and this still seems true to me, that Christians (for example) will recognize God’s revelation because of their worship of the One and their desire for union with God. For now, though, the continued fetishizing of Jesus persists as a barrier to Christians recognizing the truth of the One. We recognize Christians as people of the Book because they, based upon the message of Jesus, worship the One, however flawed their understanding of the One and Jesus (pbuh) seems to be. We are left to hope that as they examine their own texts and history, that the idolization of Jesus will be, however gradually, overcome. Then Jesus (pbuh) will in fact prove, for them, the path to Allah (swt) that Muslims have always thought he could be.Yes, I made mention of the fact that “People of the Book” is a reference to the idea that we hold a revelation from God, I did not mean it to mean an actual book, however the revelation is held within that book. If you toss away the Bible, you toss away the revelation. No matter how you interprete “People of the Book” - and as I said I interpret it to mean the revelation - your argument leaves us without.
Ok, so what you’re saying is that as far as religious texts go they are worthless, which is what I was getting at.As I have already mentioned, it offers the best access we have to the historical Jesus. So, I think worthless is an overstatement. And even though one may conclude that, e.g., John or Paul is wrong about Jesus, it does not mean they aren’t interesting thinkers (one can see this, for instance, in the revival of Paul readings that is going in amongst completely secular philosophers).
No, you’ve made it clear, you’re trying to avoid calling it worthless, what you actually mean is it is religiously worthless.If you prefer “corrupt” as a way of characterizing my position I suppose that is fine. I think there is gap between the NT writers and the teachings of Jesus, and the only way we recognize that gap is through historical work on the various texts themselves. When I said they were not corrupt, earlier in the thread, I made quite clear in what sense I meant it: the texts of the NT as we have them are faithful transmissions of the texts as they were composed.
Wait… we’re to examine our own texts to come to the conclussion that we are not to worship Jesus, when you just argued they have no religious value because as I already pointed out they say that Jesus is God. Additionally if you’re going to retreat to the idea of “historians” and their reconstruction of the life of Christ, and if you are going to use them as authority figures, you have to accept what they say about the Koran as well. And I can guarantee that none of those names you mentioned earlier believe Mohammed to be anything more than a false prophet.Sure, I agree with that. It is very hard to ascertain what Jesus (pbuh) taught, and when the historians, even Christian historians, do reconstruct a picture for us, he doesn’t seem to look a lot like the Jesus of Christianity. It is clearly the hope of Muslims, and this still seems true to me, that Christians (for example) will recognize God’s revelation because of their worship of the One and their desire for union with God. For now, though, the continued fetishizing of Jesus persists as a barrier to Christians recognizing the truth of the One. We recognize Christians as people of the Book because they, based upon the message of Jesus, worship the One, however flawed their understanding of the One and Jesus (pbuh) seems to be. We are left to hope that as they examine their own texts and history, that the idolization of Jesus will be, however gradually, overcome. Then Jesus (pbuh) will in fact prove, for them, the path to Allah (swt) that Muslims have always thought he could be.
Nonetheless you yourself are claiming that Christians don’t actually follow a revelation from God, and therefore the Koran is wrong.Finally, the idea that a particular kitab is buried irretrievably beneath the sands of history is not foreign to Islam (e.g., Abraham (pbuh)). For that matter a very limited number of prophets are mentioned in the Qur’an at all. So there are all sorts of things that are hidden from us by history. Our knowledge of what Jesus said may well remain very limited.
I think I pretty much gave Metzger’s position in the opening. The primary thrust of Metzger’s work was the reliability of the textual tradition and with standards of canonization (e.g., why certain texts that the early Xns though of as inspired were excluded, etc.). The texts we have are the texts that were written.Furthermore, if we are to speak of scholars who denounce the reliability of John or whether or not Christ said what we believe He said, what then of scholars who say the exact opposite? Such as Bruce Metzger…
If by “historical Jesus” you mean Jesus as simply a person in history, then no he would not be, and neither would the rest of the scholars I mentioned (whom you left out in your quote, focusing on one small part of my entire post). St. Irenaeus would also be a bit surprised to hear that you call the teacher of his master, the apostle John who the synoptics show as being one of Christ’s three most trusted apostles, giving an unreliable presentation of Jesus.I think I pretty much gave Metzger’s position in the opening. The primary thrust of Metzger’s work was the reliability of the textual tradition and with standards of canonization (e.g., why certain inspired texts were excluded, etc.). The texts we have are the texts that were written.
Metzger is not primarily known for being a historical Jesus person, though.
Agreed, but that is not the question being asked about. The question regards the Muslim argument that the Bible (or Jewish and Christian scriptures, any way) was corrupted. You seem to have argued on one hand, “No, and Islam doesn’t say that” (even though Mohammad’s companions argued it) and on the other hand, “Well the NT is not reliable and we will never ever be able to know what Jesus really said.” If the NT is not what it claims to be, which is an account of Christ and the early Church (and it does say that, as the beginning of Luke’s gospel, as well as Peter’s and John’s epistles, show) then some corruption had to have taken place. Your argumentation attempts to dance around a conclusion that your reasoning only leads back to.I certainly do not expect the books of the NT to be histories in the modern sense. That would be completely out of keeping with the time and place they were written. Nor do I think they are only interesting as histories. In fact, in many ways, Paul and John are more interesting for the way they think about reality, as I suggested above, and can be usefully read even if you are not religious at all.
But I do think we approach them as we would other great and important works. So when we are asking what do these texts tell us about Jesus, we are asking a question about history and we approach them as historical sources to be excavated. If we are asking what Paul thought, we are asking a question that is historical (trying to root the texts in their setting) and literary (these are works of an author with a certain style and power) and even theological/philosophical, and we bring those tools to bear.
I don’t think I danced around anything. I that is almost a perfect rehash of what I said to 9-2 a few posts earlier…Agreed, but that is not the question being asked about. The question regards the Muslim argument that the Bible (or Jewish and Christian scriptures, any way) was corrupted. You seem to have argued on one hand, “No, and Islam doesn’t say that” (even though Mohammad’s companions argued it) and on the other hand, “Well the NT is not reliable and we will never ever be able to know what Jesus really said.” If the NT is not what it claims to be, which is an account of Christ and the early Church (and it does say that, as the beginning of Luke’s gospel, as well as Peter’s and John’s epistles, show) then some corruption had to have taken place. Your argumentation attempts to dance around a conclusion that your reasoning only leads back to.
I think the tension I outlined in #46 is the tension that Islam has always found present within Christianity. On the one hand we recognize that you worship the One and desire to surrender yourselves to God in love. The foundations and impetus for this clearly lie, in some real and meaningful sense with Jesus (pbuh). On the other hand, Christians do all this in such a way that their understanding of the One and of Jesus is revealed to be horribly flawed.Nonetheless you yourself are claiming that Christians don’t actually follow a revelation from God, and therefore the Koran is wrong.
I do in fact think that the same type of approaches and methods ought be used to study the Qur’an and the history of the early Islamic community. It is already typical of Qur’anic interpretation that the setting and background within with the saying was given is taken into account.But the Koran is exempt from this stuff?
If they are faithful transmissions, then we have a good account of what Christ said by the early Christians…and the Quran is in complete and utter error regarding its teachings of what Jesus said, and the arguments by the Quran, Mohammad’s companions, and Muslim apologists in general that some corruption did take place are false.I don’t think I danced around anything. I that is almost a perfect rehash of what I said to 9-2 a few posts earlier…
“I think there is gap between the NT writers and the teachings of Jesus, and the only way we recognize that gap is through historical work on the various texts themselves. When I said they were not corrupt, earlier in the thread, I made quite clear in what sense I meant it: the texts of the NT as we have them are faithful transmissions of the texts as they were composed.”
As far as I can tell, you aren’t arguing with Muslims, you are arguing with the whole tradition of biblical scholarship as it emerged since Reimarus (which Muslims haven’t had anything to do with).If they are faithful transmissions, then we have a good account of what Christ said by the early Christians…and the Quran is in complete and utter error regarding its teachings of what Jesus said, and the arguments by the Quran, Mohammad’s companions, and Muslim apologists in general that some corruption did take place are false.
…
Again, this is why Muslims have to argue for corruption, and no doubt why Mohammad’s companions told the early Muslims not to read the past revelations: because once you study them in earnest, you realize that they completely contradict the Quran. If the Quran is supposed to be in line with the Christian and Jewish revelation, and it contradicts that which came before it, by whose standard to we give? If you say the NT is reliable, then it is the standard. And as it stands, the Quran fails that standard.
i have already dealt with this topic in this thread, here.The Quran denies the crucifixion, denies the death of Christ on the cross
The claims of the resurrection are incredible and you have plenty of Christians who think so as well. Hegel, Bultmann think Christ rises into the community as a living presence (this idea then finds expression in mythological terms as the stories of the resurrection). Barth thinks the resurrection is real but not historical. The Dominican priest Schillebeeckx finds no historical support. Crossan believes it unlikely that Jesus even received a burial, etc., etc.denies His resurrection
denies belief in Him and His death on the cross as equaling salvation, denies Him as the final and last glorious revelation to mankind…all of which the NT confirms.
Actually, we are arguing with Muslims, because the subject of this thread is “Islam and the corruption of the Bible.”As far as I can tell, you aren’t arguing with Muslims, you are arguing with the whole tradition of biblical scholarship as it emerged since Reimarus (which Muslims haven’t had anything to do with).
Then the only logical conclusion to come to is that there was some corruption of the Christian scriptures, which the Quran teaches and which you deny. Corruption in the sense that yes, the Bible is worthless, because it is not what Christ gave to the apostles, and the men who claim within the NT to be eyewitnesses and writing what they witnessed are liars. It calls them false gospels and false epistles. Therefore, yes, some corruption took place.To say that the texts as we have them now are, substantially, the texts as they were written is not at all the same thing as saying that one can easily reconstruct the historical person of Jesus from those texts.
Yes, I saw that post. You mentioned a handful of Muslim scholars and seemed to ignore the much larger argumentation by orthodox Islam. You said, for example, that there is a “minority tradition within Islam that accepts that Jesus was executed by crucifixion.” What does the Quran itself say?i have already dealt with this topic in this thread, here.
You continue to name drop men whom you label “Christians” without addressing my continual counterargument on just how “Christian” most of these men are (Crossan, for example, most people would not consider a true Christian). You have also ignored my question on whether Muslims who would state that Mohammad never said he was a prophet or that the Quran is not fully reliable in its teachings or accounts of events could be considered real Muslims, which leads one to believe that we are dealing with double standards. It also, again, ignores the wealth of scholars, many of whom I cited, who support the authenticity of the NT and its reliability, including an early Church Father - all of which you simply ignored, making a throw-away comment about Bruce Metzger.The claims of the resurrection are incredible and you have plenty of Christians who think so as well. Hegel, Bultmann think Christ rises into the community as a living presence (this idea then finds expression in mythological terms as the stories of the resurrection). Barth thinks the resurrection is real but not historical. The Dominican priest Schillebeeckx finds no historical support. Crossan believes it unlikely that Jesus even received a burial, etc., etc.
I answered what I took to be the point of the thread. There is no evidence that the texts themselves were significantly altered from the time of their composition. 9-2 then asked about why there were disagreements between the Qur’an and the Bible, and I answered that as well. I addressed issues of how to read the Qur’an (including 4.157-158, which you bring up again); I also addressed the problems with trying to establish knowledge of Jesus. I cited Christian scholars here for two reasons. First, because, not surprisingly, it is predominantly Christians who are doing the important work in the field. Second, to show that the position I was arguing was not simply that of some Muslim with an axe to grind, but agrees with broader scholarship.Actually, we are arguing with Muslims, because the subject of this thread is “Islam and the corruption of the Bible.”To continually fall back on liberal Christian (and borderline atheist) scholars (many of whom would probably disagree with Islam’s summary of this topic) ignores the point of the thread.
I denied that there was some original text waiting to be uncovered. In fact the texts we know are basically the texts as written. There is, obviously, a gap between the portrayal of Jesus in those texts and who Jesus was.Then the only logical conclusion to come to is that there was some corruption of the Christian scriptures, which the Quran teaches and which you deny. Corruption in the sense that yes, the Bible is worthless, because it is not what Christ gave to the apostles, and the men who claim within the NT to be eyewitnesses and writing what they witnessed are liars. It calls them false gospels and false epistles. Therefore, yes, some corruption took place.
It ought to be obvious why I “ignore” it. I disagree with it and think it is historically indefensible.Yes, I saw that post. You mentioned a handful of Muslim scholars and seemed to ignore the much larger argumentation by orthodox Islam. You said, for example, that there is a “minority tradition within Islam that accepts that Jesus was executed by crucifixion.”
What does the Quran itself say?
Again, quoting what I said in #43:That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not. [S. 4:157; Yusuf Ali; emphasis mine]
In that case, we can trust the Bible and ignore the Quran for its fallacies regarding Christians, their beliefs and scriptures. That’s good to know.I answered what I took to be the point of the thread. There is no evidence that the texts themselves were significantly altered from the time of their composition.
“Broader scholarship” includes varying points of view, and you left out the positive scholars (including an early Church Father with ties to the apostles), focusing only on the negative. That isn’t broader scholarship, that’s a Muslim taking what he can from liberal scholarship while attempting to remain Muslim, even though the conclusions of the two groups, as I pointed out earlier to LtTony, are completely incompatible.I cited Christian scholars here for two reasons. First, because, not surprisingly, it is predominantly Christians who are doing the important work in the field. Second, to show that the position I was arguing was not simply that of some Muslim with an axe to grind, but agrees with broader scholarship.
Again, your summary regarding the text is not what the companions of the prophet and early Muslims and majority of Islam says. Why should we take your opinion as orthodox when the majority of Islam disagrees with you?I denied that there was some original text waiting to be uncovered. In fact the texts we know are basically the texts as written.
Wait a moment…are you arguing that the majority of Islam and orthodox Islam in general is “historically indefensible”?It ought to be obvious why I “ignore” it. I disagree with it and think it is historically indefensible.
Repeating an argument does not equal demonstrating it. The Quran clearly says they did not crucify Him and they did not kill Him. I don’t know how allegorical you can get there. The majority of Islam seems to argue that the crucifixion, in one way or another, did not happen as Christians believe, and most of all that Christ did not die. This contradicts the crucifixion account in all four gospels and in the epistles.Again, quoting what I said in #43:
“it [death by crucifixion] is even the implication of the commentary of an accepted mainstream reader like Muhammad Asad. Asad totally treats the ascension in an allegorical way (see his note on 4.158). Nonetheless he continues to treat 157 as a literal denial of the crucifixion, despite the fact that an allegorical reading of 158 demands an allegorical reading of 4.157 as well [you say he is dead; we say he is not dead, but exalted — if the exaltation is not mythological claim about Jesus being taken into heaven (and Asad is clear that it is not), then the claim about his death, which is being denied, must not be literal either]. This drift in Asad is only reinforced by the fact that he gives the most obvious translation of 5.117 as well: namely, that Jesus “died”. In many ways, Asad’s tendency on this is not surprising, since he is deeply influenced by Razi.” {edited slightly for clarity}
and that pretty much summarizes my take on what to do with 4.157-158: If you are going to look for the inner meaning of the ascension, then you have to do the same thing with the claim that Jesus was not killed.
WE have explained that Quran denies the crucifixion in the meaning of death on the Cross. Real meaning of Crucifixion is death on the cross, not just putting up on the cross. The Quran denies that death. It states that Jesus was not Crucified (Killed on cross). He was not killed in any other way too.The Quran denies the crucifixion, denies the death of Christ on the cross