The Voice, the Word, the Books: The Sacred Scripture of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims

Description

Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe that their Scriptures preserve God's words to humanity, and that those words were spoken uniquely to them. This book gives insights into their origins, contents, canonization, and the important roles they have played in the lives of their communities. It explores how they evolved from oral to written texts.

F. E. Peters is Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. His books include "The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam: A New Edition" and the forthcoming "The Creation of the Quran: The Making of Muslim Scripture" (both Princeton).

Winner of the 2007 Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Theology and Religious Studies, Association of American Publishers "This is undoubtedly one of the best single volumes on the history of sacred text in the Abrahamic faiths."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Many readers will appreciate this probing interfaith investigation for the insight it offers into sacred books that both link and divide the world of faith."--Booklist "In today's culture of interfaith outreach, this book, agreeably approachable, offers insights into the parallel and intersecting paths the sacred books of the three great Abrahamic religions followed."--Suzi Brozman, Atlanta Jewish Times "Highly readable...The Voice, the Word, the Books, with its lavish illustrations and adequate index, will prove very valuable for those teaching an introduction to the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, or the Koran."--Patrick J. Ryan, The American "Readers who have some knowledge of biblical history and scholarship will already be familiar with much of the territory Peters surveys. But here that familiar territory borders on a detailed discussion of the Qur'an, and the frontier between these two traditions makes for an illuminating and often surprising adventure of ideas...The depth of the author's scholarship is...evident on every page."--Lawrence S. Cunningham, Commonweal "The open critique, dialogue and reworking of a tradition, which has been essential to the relevance of Judaism and Christianity to the modern world, awaits its day in Islam. In Peters' work you will find clues as to how big that task will be."--Rachael Kohn, Australian Review of Public Affairs "F. E. Peters offers here a remarkably well-informed, thoughtfully conceived, and elegantly written comparative... The scholarship is, in my opinion, an example of the comparative study of religion at its finest. The author's argument is grounded in first-hand, extensive knowledge of each tradition he handles, nourished by wide and incisive readings of secondary scholarly studies, and shaped overall by a clearly envisioned comparative... In my opinion, Peters has not only delivered fully on this promise to mark the histories of the Abrahamic scriptural traditions as a passage from spoken word to text and back to spoken utterance, but also presented the field of religious studies with a model for comparative studies beyond the Abrahamic traditions as well."--Martin S. Jaffee, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "In these days it is especially a pleasure to encounter a gentle, intelligent work, written for the educated general public, that promotes understanding, even empathy, for the other. Peters ... offers new information and insights for practitioners of these faiths as well as for the inquiring and the curious."--Robert W. Lebling, Saudi Aramco World "Peters has made an important contribution to the comparative study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam."--Barry Dov Walfish, Journal of Religion