Geographic Origins of the Abrahamic Faiths
Abraham was a person who lived during the Iron Age, sometime after 2000 BCE, in
the city of Ur, in Mesopotamia. Accounts of his life vary, but all have two common threads:
Abraham (or Abram) was called by God to take his family and migrate to another place.
Abraham was the ancestor of many peoples.
Among Abraham’s descendants were the major prophets of the monotheistic tradition. The
land where Abraham and his descendants settled came to be called the Holy Land, a region
on the eastern Mediterranean coast between Mesopotamia and Egypt, and the desert toward
its south—the land where the prophets described in the Biblical and Qur’anic scriptures
lived, traveled, and preached. Today, that land includes all or part of several modern
countries, including Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and parts of Egypt, Iraq,
and Syria.
During the past four thousand years, the monotheistic tradition has brought forth the world religions called
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The prophets mentioned in the Torah, the Bible, and the
Qur’an were born and lived in this region—that is why this geographic space is holy in all of
the Abrahamic faiths.
Basic Beliefs and Common Stories
Jews, Christians and Muslims believe that God made a covenant, or agreement with
Abraham to keep the faith in One God, and to worship Him, to keep that faith and teach the
practice of worship to his children down the generations, and God would preserve, protect
and multiply the children of Abraham. This covenant became the legacy, or trust, for the
children of Abraham to continue. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael (son of Hagar) and Isaac
(son of Sarah), whom he settled in different parts of the Arabian Peninsula, the latter near
Jerusalem, and the former near Makkah. According to the scriptures, Abraham was promised
that his offspring would become the fathers of great nations. These nations are the people
who are now called Jews, Christians, and Muslims.They are called monotheists, meaning
people who believe in one God, the Creator of all that is in the universe and on earth.
An act of Abraham that belongs to the core story is that God told him in a dream to sacrifice his son. He and his son were prepared to obey this divine command, but God redeemed the sacrifice with a magnificent ram. This miracle meant that God does not require human sacrifice, but only the willingness to obey. The Biblical
account says that the son to be sacrificed was Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac, while the Qur’an states that it was the first-born son Ishmael, whose mother was Hajar. The lesson of obedience and strength of faith, however, is the same.
God, Prophets, and Revelations Over Time
All of the monotheistic faiths share a belief that God, the Creator, has “spoken” to
humankind over time. The word for this divine communication is “revelation.” It comes from
the word “reveal” (to make visible or apparent). Adherents of the Abrahamic religions
believe that God revealed Himself to certain individuals called prophets over the course of
human history.
The Abrahamic faiths have in common a belief in angels as God’s messengers to
human beings. The angel of revelation is named Gabriel. The human beings chosen by God
as bearers of revelation to other human beings are called prophets. Some of them were
chosen and inspired to teach people, while the major prophets received revelations that have
been memorized, recited and written in holy books or scriptures over the centuries.
Abraham is very important to the monotheistic faiths, but he was not the first leader.
Adam and Eve are the first human beings mentioned in the scriptures as receiving revelation
from God. Other prophets included Elijah, Isaiah, Noah, Jonah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses,
David and Solomon. The Abrahamic religions differ, however, over two of these individuals,
Jesus and Muhammad, who lived about 600 years apart.
The scripture of Judaism is the Torah, which contains the revelation that was given to Moses.
The scripture of Christianity is the Bible, including the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible
of Judaism), and the New Testament. The New Testament includes the books that describe the life and
teachings of Jesus and the history of the early Church. As the titles of the parts of the
Bible indicate, it was compiled from the writings of many authors over time.
The scripture of Islam is the Qur’an. Muslims believe that it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad
through the Angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years. The Qur’an describes and affirms
the basic spiritual and moral messages of the Torah and the Bible. The Qur’an text states
that it is a continuation of God’s message to humankind from earlier revelations.
Another concept common to the Abrahamic faiths is the Messiah. The word means
one who is chosen by God for a specific holy task.
• Jews believe that a Messiah is still awaited, and coming at some future time. Jews do not
believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Some Jews believe that Jesus was a spiritual leader.
• Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They also believe that Jesus was the son of
God, who came to redeem human beings from sin or wrongdoing, and that he
compensated for all human sins with his suffering and death. This salvation, or being
saved and given eternal life, is the central teaching of the New Testament (which means
promise or pledge, i.e. the salvation through Jesus)
• Muslims also believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but they do not believe that he was the
son of God, and Muslims also believe that God did not allow him to die at the hands of
human beings.
• Both Christians and Muslims believe that Jesus was raised up to God, but Christians
believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, or resurrected. Muslims believe that Jesus
was one of the greatest prophets. Muslims also share the belief with Christians in the
Second Coming of Jesus Christ near the end of time.
• Among adherents of the Abrahamic faiths, only Muslims believe that Muhammad was a
prophet, a man who was born in Makkah in about the year 570 CE. They believe that he
received the final revelation from God—the holy book called the Qur’an. Historically,
Muhammad was not accepted as a prophet by Christians.
The Monotheistic Concept of God and the Afterlife
All three Abrahamic faiths share many ideas about the nature of God. He is the
Creator of the Universe. The monotheistic tradition of God includes the idea of a covenant,
or promise, of God. The covenant is a trust placed upon human beings to believe in God, to
worship only Him and not to worship any other gods. The scriptures describe God’s
characteristics or attributes, such as justice, mercy, and power over all of Creation. The
scriptures of the Abrahamic faiths also describe the promise of God to judge all human
beings on the Judgment Day, after they have died, and to reward or punish them according to
God’s justice. All of the faiths believe that God requires human beings to show mercy to others, to do good deeds such as helping others, and that He will reward those who have faithand do good in this world.
Questions:
CCSS2 Unit 5 Questions on The 3 Abrahamic Faiths
1.Who was Abraham?
2. What is a covenant?
3. What covenant do Christians, Jews and Muslims believe that God made with
Abraham?
4. What are monotheists?
5. What part of the Bible do Jews use?
6. What is the Qur’an (Koran)? What is in it?
7. What is a Messiah?
8. What do Jews believe about the Messiah?
9. What do Christians believe about the Messiah?
10. What do Muslims believe about Jesus?
11. What do Christians and Muslims agree upon about Jesus?
12. What do Christians and Muslims disagree on when talking about Jesus?
13. Of the three Abrahamic faiths, which believe that Muhammad was a
prophet?
14. What ideas do the three faiths share about the nature of God?
No comments:
Post a Comment