What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cross & the Crescent
Dirks, a former ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, explores the meanings of the early Christian writings and the Qu'ran in an effort to show both Muslims and Christians that their religions are much closer philosophically and even doctrinally than most people realize. In the majority of the essays he examines the Gospels and analyzes what the original Christians may have thought about certain matters such as the status of Jesus as the son of God. In one essay Dirks reaches the surprising conclusion that many of the early Christians were in disagreement about whether Jesus was actually crucified, and act which the Qu'ran denies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Jerald F. Dirks
10 books52 followersDr. Jerald F. Dirks received his Bachelor of Arts (philosophy) from Harvard College in 1971, his Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School in 1974, his Master of Arts (clinical child psychology) from the University of Denver in 1976, and his Doctor of Psychology degree in clinical psychology from the University of Denver in 1978.
In 1969, he obtained his License to Preach from the United Methodist Church, and he was ordained into the Christian ministry (deaconate) by the United Methodist Church in 1972.
He converted to Islam in 1993 and completed his sessions program certificate in Islamic studies from Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in 1998.
Dr. Dirks is the author or co-author of over 60 published articles in the behavioral sciences (primarily in psychosomatic medicine), over 140 published articles on the Arabian horse and its history, and over 220 published articles and formal presentations on Islam, comparative religion, and private Islamic education in America. He has lectured widely on Islam at American colleges and universities.
In 1969, he obtained his License to Preach from the United Methodist Church, and he was ordained into the Christian ministry (deaconate) by the United Methodist Church in 1972.
He converted to Islam in 1993 and completed his sessions program certificate in Islamic studies from Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in 1998.
Dr. Dirks is the author or co-author of over 60 published articles in the behavioral sciences (primarily in psychosomatic medicine), over 140 published articles on the Arabian horse and its history, and over 220 published articles and formal presentations on Islam, comparative religion, and private Islamic education in America. He has lectured widely on Islam at American colleges and universities.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 12, 2012
كتاب تحليلي لأصول الاديان السماوية والقواسم المشتركة فيما بينها , يسعى الكتاب الى ردم الفوهة التي حدثت بين أتباع هذه الاديان نتيجة للفهم الخاطئ للكثير من المعتقدات
اعتمد أسلوب المنطق والعقل في مناقشته ولم يبد أي تحيز لأي طرف , لايخلو من الصعوبة خصوصا في المسائل التاريخية
تناول الفصل الاول أوجه التشابه بين المسيحية والاسلام من حيث المضمون القصصي الوارد في الكتب التابعة للطرفين
ثم تحدث بالفصل الثاني أصل وروابط الديانات الثلات
الفصل الثالث كان عن الكتب المقدسة المعتمدة كالتوراة والاناجيل الاربعة والمزامير والقرآن- بنيتها , الطريقة التي جُمعت بها ...الخ
ثم تناول قضية مثيرة للجدل في الاوساط المسيحية " الصلب ومعمودية المسيح عليه السلام "
وتحدث عنها انطلاقا من الكتب المعتمدة والكتب المنحولة " نصوص ابو كريفا " والقرآن على حد سواء
وفي آخر فصل تحدث عن العقيدة الاسلامية واركان الايمان وتحدث بشيء من التفصيل في كل منها على حِدى
أجمل ماقاله وأكده في الكتاب بالأدلة أن الديانة الاسلامية ليست دين غريب كما يعتقد معظم المسيحين وانما على العكس تماما , الاسلام أقرب للديانة المسيحية القديمة أكثر بكثير من المسيحية في الوقت الراهن
اعتمد أسلوب المنطق والعقل في مناقشته ولم يبد أي تحيز لأي طرف , لايخلو من الصعوبة خصوصا في المسائل التاريخية
تناول الفصل الاول أوجه التشابه بين المسيحية والاسلام من حيث المضمون القصصي الوارد في الكتب التابعة للطرفين
ثم تحدث بالفصل الثاني أصل وروابط الديانات الثلات
الفصل الثالث كان عن الكتب المقدسة المعتمدة كالتوراة والاناجيل الاربعة والمزامير والقرآن- بنيتها , الطريقة التي جُمعت بها ...الخ
ثم تناول قضية مثيرة للجدل في الاوساط المسيحية " الصلب ومعمودية المسيح عليه السلام "
وتحدث عنها انطلاقا من الكتب المعتمدة والكتب المنحولة " نصوص ابو كريفا " والقرآن على حد سواء
وفي آخر فصل تحدث عن العقيدة الاسلامية واركان الايمان وتحدث بشيء من التفصيل في كل منها على حِدى
أجمل ماقاله وأكده في الكتاب بالأدلة أن الديانة الاسلامية ليست دين غريب كما يعتقد معظم المسيحين وانما على العكس تماما , الاسلام أقرب للديانة المسيحية القديمة أكثر بكثير من المسيحية في الوقت الراهن
April 29, 2026
“The Cross and the Crescent:
A woman of Imran appears to be a statement that the lineage of Mary’s mother traced back to the Biblical Amram, the son of Kohath, a member of the Levite tribe of Israel and the father of Moses.”
Quran 3:44
The Gospel of the Birth of Mary; The Protevangelion of James 8:2-4
The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ: bird from clay
Chief barriers to effective communication: one assumes he is speaking the same language, being unaware of the fact that some key words and concepts of his conversation mean radically different things to others. Neither realizes that the common words they are using do not have a shared, common meaning for the two of them. The temptation arises either to ignore the differences or to assimilate the concept to the individual’s pre-existing mental framework.”
In the Bible, Noah was the first person with whom Allah entered into a covenant. Abraham lived 11 generations after Noah. Second covenant. Then Issac- Jacob(Israel). Moses (third covenant)
Proto- Judaism or ur-Judaism
Davidic and Solomonic Kingdom of Israel was fragmented into a northern Kingdom of Israel and a southern Kingdom of Judah around 930BCE. Assyrian empire destroyed northern kingdom of Israel in 722BCE. The Israelites of the northern kingdom comprising 10 of the 12 tribes were carried away into captivity and lost forever.
Southern kingdom of Judah- tribes of Benjamin and Judah continues for 150 years more. Babylonian Empire destroyed it in 586BCE. Solomonic Temple was destroyed.
Temple sacrifice and rituals: Feast of Passover, Feast of Weeks, Tabernacles or Feast of Booths.
Samaritans- were mixed Assyrian and Israelite descent who had relocated to the area. Did not follow temple cult in Jerusalem. Worshiped at Mt. Gerisim at Shechem (Nablus). Their version of Torah differed from that of post-evilic Jews in Judea. Samaritan’s broke away from Judaism after Jews returned from Babylonian exile (140 years sporadically)
Second Temple: during Darius I of Persia 522-486BCE. Herods Third Temple was destroyed in 70CE by the Romans.
Post-Exilic Judaism: Sadducees; Hassidim , and Zealots.
Hassidim- Pharisees and the Essenes. Both accepted Nevi’im and Ketuvim. Essenes were absorbed into nascent Christian churches and Mandaean movement of John the Baptist after 70CE.
Zealots ceased to exist after the final uprising under Simon bar Kochba in 132CE.
Pharisees were able to survive into the modern times as the only living sect of Judaism.
There was no single monolithic Christian Church which evolved immediately following the time of Jesus.
Islam affirms a multiplicity of covenants between Allah and mankind. Every prophet of Allah has had his own covenant which was inherited by that prophets people. A prophet of Allah was sent to every people not just to the Israelites.
This concept of a multiplicity of covenants is linked with the Islamic concept of progressive revelation. Unlike the cosmic reorderings in the Judea-Christian tradition, Islam affirms a gradual evolution in relation of man and Allah.
Judaism arose much after Islam and was the codified remains of deviation from Islam.
The Judeo-Christian perspective frequently portrays the prophets of Allah as being backsliding sinners. The Islamic perspective is that these prophets were men of virtue, piety, and high moral character.
The Torah was probably accepted as a closed canon of scripture early 4th century BCE during the time of Ezra. The Nevi’im received acceptance after Samaritan and Jew schism in 4th century BCE or by 2nd century BCE. Ketuvim in 2nd century BCE. Officially closed at Council of Jamnis in 1st century CE (85-90 CE).
The five books of Torah and one book of psalms are the only books out of 39 books in Jewish Scripture that are mentioned in the Quran.”
4th century CE: Eusebius Pamphili, Athanasius. Council of Hippo in 393CE, Synod of Carthage in 397CE; Carthaginian Council in 419 CE. Syriac translation 508CE.
It took 3-5 centuries following the completion of the ministry of Jesus before early Christian churches formulated the final canon of 27 books.
In 633CE, Abu Bakr appointed Zayd ibn Thabit to produce a written copy of the entire Quran. A complete copy of the Quran was produced a year after the Prophets death.
Uthman Ibn Affan directed Zayd ibn Thabit to make final recession of the Quran.
Bible states that the exodus from Egypt occurred 480 years prior to the start of the construction of Solomonic Temple. 10th century BCE. Exodus was 1446BCE
The received Torah is a composite which originated in late 5th or 4th century BCE. 1000 years after Moses. JEPD sources
Proto-Masoretic text: dates to 400BCE. Jewish exiles of Babylonian origin . No longer exists. Evolved into Masoretic text under Pharisaic sect of Judaism 70CE. Not completed until development of Tiberian system of vowel markings between 780 CE and 930CE. Oldest existing text is by Moses bar Asher in Tiberius 895 CE: (2400 years after Moses) use in contemporary Torah.
Samaritan text: 4th century BCE at time of Samaritan and Jewish schism. Probably 2nd century BCE. Most manuscripts that exist are dated 13th century CE (2800 years after Moses). Differ from Masoretic text in 6,000 places.
Alexandian Torah text was Hebrew translated into Greek to create Greek Septuagint in 3rd century BCE. This text no longer exists.
Palestinian Torah text no longer exist. Mentioned in Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1940.
David became King of the Israelite tribe of Judah 1013-1008 BCE. Died 973-969 BCE. Psalms may include some portions of the Zabur.
David reign between Iron Age IB and Iron Age IIA OR Late Bronze Age IIA and Late Bronze Age IIB.
The complete book of psalms was not finished until between 400-20 BCE (570-770 years after the death of David). Masoretic text psalms has 1865 years lag time between death of David and final version
The earliest Christian writings pay little attention to the sayings and actions of Jesus. Epistles of Paul
That aspect of the early church- Pauline Church- the historical Jesus was basically incidental to what was believed to be a process of ongoing inspiration and revelation through the risen Jesus.
Earliest gospels 75CE. Papias in 130CE refers to gospel by name.
250CE: gospels began to assume the role of authoritative scripture in the early Christian Churches.”
Form criticism: Formgeschichte. At least 5 types of oral literary forms behind composition of the gospels.
1) Old Testament prophecy or passages allegedly referring to Jesus 2)narratives culminating in an alleged saying of Jesus 3) detailed narratives, primarily focused on the miracles of Jesus 4) special narrative traditions- baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, temptation of Jesus by Satan, alleged transfiguration of Jesus, peters confession as to Jesus identity, alleged passion of Jesus 5) alleged sayings and parables of Jesus.
Q: Quelle or source: 1/3 of Thomas gospel have direct parallels in Matthew and Luke. Q is material which is common to Matthew and Luke while being absent from Mark; material found in Matthew and Thomas, Luke and Thomas or Matthew,Luke, and Thomas whether or not found in mark.
Mark 75CE, Matthew 85CE, Luke 95CE, John 110CE
John 110CE: pre-existence of Jesus from time immemorial. The Christology and theology within one branch of the early Christian Churches were developing at a rapid pace and the canonical gospels dramatically reflect that evolutionary trajectory through time.”
This evolution in Christology occurred very rapidly, within the confines of at least one segment of the early Christian churches and within a course of only 35 years.”
1946 Revised Standaed Version and 1989 New Revised Standard Version of New Testament: The original Lukan narrative clearly documented that the sonship of Jesus began only with the baptism.”
Luke 3:22b remaining unaltered in Hebrews 1:5b
Those segments of the early churches, which supported the concept of the begotten sonship of jesus, were quite successful in destroying the Gospel of the Ebionites. Only fragments of this gospel were preserved as quotations by Epiphanius.
Isaiah 42:1; Abhdi servant
The original concept of the sonship of Jesus was in line with Islamic belief and thought; with the passage of time, the sonship concept started deviating and oscillating from the Islamic perspective, under the influence of Roman and Greek polytheism. This deviation began quite early within the development of the Christian Churches and proceeded at a rapid pace.
The Christian doctrine of the trinity is so ephemeral and so complex that the average Christian does not even begin to understand the doctrine.
Early Christians were quite confused and uncertain about what actually happened during the crucifixion event.”
But if some say… his suffering was only an appearance, then why am I a prisoner, and why do I long to fight with wild beasts? In that case, I am dying in vain.” Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch
Council of Nicea in 325CE: orthodox doctrine and creeds began to be established and authorized canon.
The basic tenet of the Gospel of Barnabas is that when Judas Iscariot led the soldiers into the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus and bring him to trial, the appearance of Judas was miraculously changed and Jesus ascended to Heaven.”
Those disciples who did not fear God went by night and stole the body of Judas and hid it, spreading a report that Jesus had risen again… Gospel of Barnabus
The Advocate and the Holy Spirit are different.
The revelation, mission, and ministry of Jesus were to stay confined to the house of Israel until the coming of the Advocate(PM).
The promise of the Father is the Advocate. The Advocate will be inspired by and receive revelation from the Holy Spirit and that revelation will clothe those who accept it with power from on high.
John 14:25-21 and 16:7
Luke 24:50 indicates that the ascension of Jesus was on Easter Sunday which would indicate that Jesus was not present to have made the speeches recorded in Matthew 28:16-20 and Acts 1:7-8.
More than any other book of the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew attempts to demonstrate that the life and ministry of Jesus was fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.”
Gospel of Matthew was 2nd of 4 to be compiled. 80-90CE. Compiled in Syria and written in Greek by a person whose Old Testamenr was the Greek Septuagint as opposed to a Hebrew test of the Old Testament. Matthew relied on Mark
The compiler of Matthew: frequently did not understand Old Testament prophecy, often because he was dependent on the Greek Septuagint; has on occasions misquoted prophecy; and frequently quoted prophecy out of context.”
When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, the translators of the Septuagint translated almah into Greek Parthenos which means either young woman or virgin.
Immediately after quoting the Septuagint version of Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:25 explicitly states that the infant was called Jesus.
Attempts to resurrect the prophetic fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 in the virgin birth of Jesus by claiming that Jesus was God with us continue to distort Isaiah 7:14 where it clearly states that the persons name is Immanuel- not that the person was Immanuel.
There is no other passage in the entire New Testament or in any secular writing that mentions King Herod’s slaughtering of the children in Bethlehem.
Matthew appears to have fabricated the story of the slaughter of the children, in order to create a parallel between Jesus and Moses. He then attempts to camaflouge his fabrication by misrepresenting a passage from Jeremiah and by using it as a claim of fulfillment of Messianic prophecy.”
Biblical scholars have long argued that the entire suffering servant motif in Isaiah is better applied to the people of Israel as a whole.”
Jesus specifically contradicted that he has any ministry to anyone outside of the house of Israel.
A woman of Imran appears to be a statement that the lineage of Mary’s mother traced back to the Biblical Amram, the son of Kohath, a member of the Levite tribe of Israel and the father of Moses.”
Quran 3:44
The Gospel of the Birth of Mary; The Protevangelion of James 8:2-4
The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ: bird from clay
Chief barriers to effective communication: one assumes he is speaking the same language, being unaware of the fact that some key words and concepts of his conversation mean radically different things to others. Neither realizes that the common words they are using do not have a shared, common meaning for the two of them. The temptation arises either to ignore the differences or to assimilate the concept to the individual’s pre-existing mental framework.”
In the Bible, Noah was the first person with whom Allah entered into a covenant. Abraham lived 11 generations after Noah. Second covenant. Then Issac- Jacob(Israel). Moses (third covenant)
Proto- Judaism or ur-Judaism
Davidic and Solomonic Kingdom of Israel was fragmented into a northern Kingdom of Israel and a southern Kingdom of Judah around 930BCE. Assyrian empire destroyed northern kingdom of Israel in 722BCE. The Israelites of the northern kingdom comprising 10 of the 12 tribes were carried away into captivity and lost forever.
Southern kingdom of Judah- tribes of Benjamin and Judah continues for 150 years more. Babylonian Empire destroyed it in 586BCE. Solomonic Temple was destroyed.
Temple sacrifice and rituals: Feast of Passover, Feast of Weeks, Tabernacles or Feast of Booths.
Samaritans- were mixed Assyrian and Israelite descent who had relocated to the area. Did not follow temple cult in Jerusalem. Worshiped at Mt. Gerisim at Shechem (Nablus). Their version of Torah differed from that of post-evilic Jews in Judea. Samaritan’s broke away from Judaism after Jews returned from Babylonian exile (140 years sporadically)
Second Temple: during Darius I of Persia 522-486BCE. Herods Third Temple was destroyed in 70CE by the Romans.
Post-Exilic Judaism: Sadducees; Hassidim , and Zealots.
Hassidim- Pharisees and the Essenes. Both accepted Nevi’im and Ketuvim. Essenes were absorbed into nascent Christian churches and Mandaean movement of John the Baptist after 70CE.
Zealots ceased to exist after the final uprising under Simon bar Kochba in 132CE.
Pharisees were able to survive into the modern times as the only living sect of Judaism.
There was no single monolithic Christian Church which evolved immediately following the time of Jesus.
Islam affirms a multiplicity of covenants between Allah and mankind. Every prophet of Allah has had his own covenant which was inherited by that prophets people. A prophet of Allah was sent to every people not just to the Israelites.
This concept of a multiplicity of covenants is linked with the Islamic concept of progressive revelation. Unlike the cosmic reorderings in the Judea-Christian tradition, Islam affirms a gradual evolution in relation of man and Allah.
Judaism arose much after Islam and was the codified remains of deviation from Islam.
The Judeo-Christian perspective frequently portrays the prophets of Allah as being backsliding sinners. The Islamic perspective is that these prophets were men of virtue, piety, and high moral character.
The Torah was probably accepted as a closed canon of scripture early 4th century BCE during the time of Ezra. The Nevi’im received acceptance after Samaritan and Jew schism in 4th century BCE or by 2nd century BCE. Ketuvim in 2nd century BCE. Officially closed at Council of Jamnis in 1st century CE (85-90 CE).
The five books of Torah and one book of psalms are the only books out of 39 books in Jewish Scripture that are mentioned in the Quran.”
4th century CE: Eusebius Pamphili, Athanasius. Council of Hippo in 393CE, Synod of Carthage in 397CE; Carthaginian Council in 419 CE. Syriac translation 508CE.
It took 3-5 centuries following the completion of the ministry of Jesus before early Christian churches formulated the final canon of 27 books.
In 633CE, Abu Bakr appointed Zayd ibn Thabit to produce a written copy of the entire Quran. A complete copy of the Quran was produced a year after the Prophets death.
Uthman Ibn Affan directed Zayd ibn Thabit to make final recession of the Quran.
Bible states that the exodus from Egypt occurred 480 years prior to the start of the construction of Solomonic Temple. 10th century BCE. Exodus was 1446BCE
The received Torah is a composite which originated in late 5th or 4th century BCE. 1000 years after Moses. JEPD sources
Proto-Masoretic text: dates to 400BCE. Jewish exiles of Babylonian origin . No longer exists. Evolved into Masoretic text under Pharisaic sect of Judaism 70CE. Not completed until development of Tiberian system of vowel markings between 780 CE and 930CE. Oldest existing text is by Moses bar Asher in Tiberius 895 CE: (2400 years after Moses) use in contemporary Torah.
Samaritan text: 4th century BCE at time of Samaritan and Jewish schism. Probably 2nd century BCE. Most manuscripts that exist are dated 13th century CE (2800 years after Moses). Differ from Masoretic text in 6,000 places.
Alexandian Torah text was Hebrew translated into Greek to create Greek Septuagint in 3rd century BCE. This text no longer exists.
Palestinian Torah text no longer exist. Mentioned in Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1940.
David became King of the Israelite tribe of Judah 1013-1008 BCE. Died 973-969 BCE. Psalms may include some portions of the Zabur.
David reign between Iron Age IB and Iron Age IIA OR Late Bronze Age IIA and Late Bronze Age IIB.
The complete book of psalms was not finished until between 400-20 BCE (570-770 years after the death of David). Masoretic text psalms has 1865 years lag time between death of David and final version
The earliest Christian writings pay little attention to the sayings and actions of Jesus. Epistles of Paul
That aspect of the early church- Pauline Church- the historical Jesus was basically incidental to what was believed to be a process of ongoing inspiration and revelation through the risen Jesus.
Earliest gospels 75CE. Papias in 130CE refers to gospel by name.
250CE: gospels began to assume the role of authoritative scripture in the early Christian Churches.”
Form criticism: Formgeschichte. At least 5 types of oral literary forms behind composition of the gospels.
1) Old Testament prophecy or passages allegedly referring to Jesus 2)narratives culminating in an alleged saying of Jesus 3) detailed narratives, primarily focused on the miracles of Jesus 4) special narrative traditions- baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, temptation of Jesus by Satan, alleged transfiguration of Jesus, peters confession as to Jesus identity, alleged passion of Jesus 5) alleged sayings and parables of Jesus.
Q: Quelle or source: 1/3 of Thomas gospel have direct parallels in Matthew and Luke. Q is material which is common to Matthew and Luke while being absent from Mark; material found in Matthew and Thomas, Luke and Thomas or Matthew,Luke, and Thomas whether or not found in mark.
Mark 75CE, Matthew 85CE, Luke 95CE, John 110CE
John 110CE: pre-existence of Jesus from time immemorial. The Christology and theology within one branch of the early Christian Churches were developing at a rapid pace and the canonical gospels dramatically reflect that evolutionary trajectory through time.”
This evolution in Christology occurred very rapidly, within the confines of at least one segment of the early Christian churches and within a course of only 35 years.”
1946 Revised Standaed Version and 1989 New Revised Standard Version of New Testament: The original Lukan narrative clearly documented that the sonship of Jesus began only with the baptism.”
Luke 3:22b remaining unaltered in Hebrews 1:5b
Those segments of the early churches, which supported the concept of the begotten sonship of jesus, were quite successful in destroying the Gospel of the Ebionites. Only fragments of this gospel were preserved as quotations by Epiphanius.
Isaiah 42:1; Abhdi servant
The original concept of the sonship of Jesus was in line with Islamic belief and thought; with the passage of time, the sonship concept started deviating and oscillating from the Islamic perspective, under the influence of Roman and Greek polytheism. This deviation began quite early within the development of the Christian Churches and proceeded at a rapid pace.
The Christian doctrine of the trinity is so ephemeral and so complex that the average Christian does not even begin to understand the doctrine.
Early Christians were quite confused and uncertain about what actually happened during the crucifixion event.”
But if some say… his suffering was only an appearance, then why am I a prisoner, and why do I long to fight with wild beasts? In that case, I am dying in vain.” Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch
Council of Nicea in 325CE: orthodox doctrine and creeds began to be established and authorized canon.
The basic tenet of the Gospel of Barnabas is that when Judas Iscariot led the soldiers into the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus and bring him to trial, the appearance of Judas was miraculously changed and Jesus ascended to Heaven.”
Those disciples who did not fear God went by night and stole the body of Judas and hid it, spreading a report that Jesus had risen again… Gospel of Barnabus
The Advocate and the Holy Spirit are different.
The revelation, mission, and ministry of Jesus were to stay confined to the house of Israel until the coming of the Advocate(PM).
The promise of the Father is the Advocate. The Advocate will be inspired by and receive revelation from the Holy Spirit and that revelation will clothe those who accept it with power from on high.
John 14:25-21 and 16:7
Luke 24:50 indicates that the ascension of Jesus was on Easter Sunday which would indicate that Jesus was not present to have made the speeches recorded in Matthew 28:16-20 and Acts 1:7-8.
More than any other book of the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew attempts to demonstrate that the life and ministry of Jesus was fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.”
Gospel of Matthew was 2nd of 4 to be compiled. 80-90CE. Compiled in Syria and written in Greek by a person whose Old Testamenr was the Greek Septuagint as opposed to a Hebrew test of the Old Testament. Matthew relied on Mark
The compiler of Matthew: frequently did not understand Old Testament prophecy, often because he was dependent on the Greek Septuagint; has on occasions misquoted prophecy; and frequently quoted prophecy out of context.”
When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, the translators of the Septuagint translated almah into Greek Parthenos which means either young woman or virgin.
Immediately after quoting the Septuagint version of Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:25 explicitly states that the infant was called Jesus.
Attempts to resurrect the prophetic fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 in the virgin birth of Jesus by claiming that Jesus was God with us continue to distort Isaiah 7:14 where it clearly states that the persons name is Immanuel- not that the person was Immanuel.
There is no other passage in the entire New Testament or in any secular writing that mentions King Herod’s slaughtering of the children in Bethlehem.
Matthew appears to have fabricated the story of the slaughter of the children, in order to create a parallel between Jesus and Moses. He then attempts to camaflouge his fabrication by misrepresenting a passage from Jeremiah and by using it as a claim of fulfillment of Messianic prophecy.”
Biblical scholars have long argued that the entire suffering servant motif in Isaiah is better applied to the people of Israel as a whole.”
Jesus specifically contradicted that he has any ministry to anyone outside of the house of Israel.
May 29, 2024
An excellent introduction to Islam for Christians and Jews
February 28, 2014
A respectful, startling and engaging approach to comparative religion. Of course the opinion of the book would be tainted by one's religious background but as a Muslim I found this to be an account of a timeless message and the individual quest of submitting free will for salvation
July 18, 2021
Gives a solid perspective of the judaio-christian an Islamic narratives
January 24, 2016
This book is useful for anyone looking for a basic introduction into the beliefs and practices of Muslims, particularly someone who is unaware of the common ground shared by Islam and the other Abrahamic traditions. At the same time, the book serves as an interesting appetiser for those who have read the Bible and felt baffled by some of it's seeming contradictions. I feel the book suffers a little in this respect from being a 'jack of all trades but master of none' and wonder whether the polemical nature of much of what is written might be off-putting to those looking for a basic introduction to Islam. Nevertheless I loved the Biblical analysis (I would prefer to see another addition in which Dr. Dirks focuses solely on the discrepancies within the Bible) and ultimately feel that the author does a good job of linking all of the subject-matter together.
January 20, 2008
Interesting analysis on similarities between the two religions (further than the obvious). Great analytics regarding Jesus's crucifixion and parts in history/bible where it supports the islamic points of view.
May 11, 2013
A comprehensive view on the three heavenly religions, an in-depth analysis of their origin, and an unmistakably universal message!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews